Think back a little with me......who or what was your first love? Was it a special doll or toy? Maybe a very special loved one? A pet, maybe? I have no doubt about my first love......HORSES!
My mom wrote a lot of "firsts" in my baby book for several years after I was born. One of the "firsts" was the "first time I ran away"! I was almost a three year old when Mom wrote that I came up missing one afternoon. Everyone in the family was looking around the yard and in the obvious places behind the house. Finally, someone went to the barn. There I was, perched on the fence, trying to lure my dad's old grey gelding, "Danny Peanuts" over to the fence. It appeared I was going to get on him. My plan was foiled as I was taken back to the house before my mission was accomplished. So I guess you could say I got a fairly early start being in love with horses.
I think I've mentioned before that Dad didn't think I should have a pony or a horse. Sometimes I think he actually hoped I wouldn't ride.....to keep me from getting hurt. So compared to a lot of country kids, I got kind of a late start riding. But I remember being pretty little and begging rides from kids at the fair or any other time someone would let me get on with them!
My first real horse's name was Splash. She was a loud paint mare, half welsh, I think and half quarter horse. Splash was actually purchased for my oldest brother but it wasn't long before he outgrew her. She made her way down through my second brother and then my sister, before finally becoming my horse. We were the same age, I recall. It was about the time she became my horse, that I needed a babysitter and a friend. I think I was seven. I very well remember luring her into the barn with feed and standing on the mangers to saddle her. She was not the most cooperative horse in the world. Splash had seen plenty in her years and while she wouldn't hurt you on purpose, (or very badly anyway) being saddled and ridden by a little kid wasn't really on her "to do" list for the day. I got pretty frustrated but always kept on trying. Some might say I was just more stubborn than she was. I'd probably go along with that.....so would most anyone who knows me very well. But despite the fact that Splash really didn't care much about having me ride her, sometimes I just brushed her or sat and petted her. And talked to her. And she listened as only a horse can. She heard my thoughts and felt my emotions. I needed that at that time.
There have been many, many horses throughout my life. They have been with me through my teenage years and through college. When life was "unstable", horses gave me stability. In college, when I was on the rodeo team, I think one of the things that gave me the most enjoyment, wasn't so much the fact that I was in rodeo, it was that I had a friend from home, right there waiting for me every day. Someone stable who listened and helped to keep me grounded. That has carried on throughout my adult life too. Horses have always been that defining factor for me. I have learned more than I can tell you from horses. Not just about what horses do, but about life.....about sticking with things, about responsibility, about loyalty.
So I have always loved horses. Much of the time, I'm pretty sure I understand horses a lot better than I do people. And even though a horse might not do exactly what I want when I want, that gives me another opportunity to learn something. To think about a new way to show a horse a particular thing. And I think that can carry over to us as humans too.
No comments:
Post a Comment