Sunday, February 26, 2012

The Five Horses We Meet in Life


The Five Horses We Meet in Life (photos coming soon!)
I found this on Fugly Horse, unfortunately they didn't know the source. I thought that it was an interesting piece, and decided to answer it. 
1. The Intro Horse.
We each came into horses in our own way, but it was always with a horse leading us. This might have been a friend’s first pony, or perhaps it was a draft horse on a farm you once visited It might have been a real-life meeting, or an imaginary one. I was escorted to the party by The Black, Walter Farley’s star horse in The Black Stallion series…
My Answer: My first horse related memory is a little fuzzy. I imagine I was riding my grand mother's horse, a Missouri Fox trotter palomino paint gelding- his name was Bob. My mother was instructing me, because my grandmother is a very old fashioned woman. She does things very by the book, and I'm sure she was quite unhappy to have me riding her most prized possession
2. The Experimental Horse
Once you had crossed the line between “Darn, they’re big!” and “Wow! Can I try that?” you found yourself face-to-face with the horse that would suffer through your early attempts at figuring out the whole horse experience … wherever this horse came from, he probably didn’t benefit from the encounter as much as you did…

My Answer: Peaches Deck without a doubt. My first lesson horse that I really fit with. She was fantastic, I learned gymkhana, and galloped for the first time. She was the fastest horse in the lesson group, and unfortunately that was all that we cared about in that lesson group. I didn't learn much about riding, but I learned how to comfortable in the saddle at any speed. 





3. The Connected Horse
The first horses we meet don’t really connect with us, nor do we with them. Those are experiences in survival and tests of endurance. The Connected Horse is the first horse you truly bond with. This is the horse that sounds a chord that lives so deep in you that you might never have heard it otherwise…

4. The Challenger
Into each horseperson’s life, a little challenge must fall. You’ll have read that one final training book, bought yourself a clicker and heading rope, and there you’ll stand, arms crossed, assessing the situation as if you actually knew what the situation was. It might be difficult to believe, as you are flying down the aisleway on the losing end of a braided cotton line, but you actually need this horse in your life…

5. Your Deepest Heart
There will come a time when you will look at yourself with a cold, appraising eye, and you’ll have to be honest about your continued ability to deal with The Challenger and other difficult horses. At that point, you’ll seek out the horse that will be your soul mate forever… You’ll have bought him the most comfortable, best fitting equipment… Maybe you’ll still go to shows and ride – brilliantly or barely – in the Alzheimer’s class. Maybe you’ll just stay home. Whatever you do, one day you’ll realize that after all the money you spent on animal communicators and trainers, you only had to stop and listen and you would have clearly heard your horse’s thoughts and desires…



My Answer: I have yet to meet enough horses, truly meet them, so I feel that all of these would be my Roxy love. She was my first horse. Unlike most, I didn't lease a horse before purchasing. I had been riding for a few years, and my mother saw that it was time for me to get my own horse. So we began to search, and search, and search. We looked for over a year before finding Roxy. Instantly we knew she was the one. I know green on green makes black on blue. But Roxy taught me more lessons then any school horse could. Roxy fought (and still fights), she keeps me on my toes, and she is so extremely talented. I know that this versatile mare will take me wherever I decide to go. She always was a fantastic horse, and now she has finally started to mature to a point where others see it to. She stops on a dime, slide stops, runs a fantastic barrel pattern, goes long and low for western pleasure, jumps with fantastic form, and now she's even starting to get on cows. Roxy is my connected horse.


I'm going to revisit this list years down the road, and see if a little more time changes my answers. Who are the five horses in your life?

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