For The Love Of Horses

I have been a horse lover all my life. I feel an affinity and closeness with horses. Whenever I’m around them, I feel a sense of peace and calm, like I’m right where I’m supposed to be. I don’t have a horse myself, sad to say, but I love being around them.

Growing up, from age 10 to 18, I went to horse riding camp every year. The bunk house was built right off the barn! It was glorious! After everybody was asleep, I’d go in the barn and visit with the horses. This was a working farm, and we as campers, were the farm hands. We handled 50lb bags of horse feed, 65lb square bales of hay and we mucked out the stalls every day.

The horses of course, got fed before we did. There were horseback riding lessons as well. We mostly learned western, but were also taught bareback and how to guide with leg pressure. We also did some barrel racing. We did very little English Dressage and fence jumping. I wish we could have spent more time on that. I really enjoyed it. From sun up to sun down, we were working. It was exhausting, but the best time of my life. At the end of the week my clothes would be hanging off me as I would usually lose between 15 to 20lbs.

We were taught to respect a horse and get him to work with us, not use brute force to command him. We were taught to guide the horses with our legs. We were also taught that a horse’s mouth is sensitive and to exercise restraint in using the reins. Anyone seen unnecessarily pulling or jerking on the reins was severely reprimanded. We never used a whip or riding crop as our instructors didn’t believe in negative reinforcement.

Since I was usually the more skilled rider they gave me the “problem” horse. One year I got Goliath. He was huge and thought he could go wherever he pleased. I stopped that nonsense right away. The next year I got Widow Maker. He was a handful! When I was 18, and at my last year at camp, I got my favorite horse, her name was Lady. And she was anything but a lady. She was a beautiful black Quarter Horse. And I loved her at first sight when I saw her rearing up in the stall. She was a beauty. She had a bad habit of rearing up and bucking until the rider was on the ground. After a few demonstrations of her skill, nobody wanted to ride her.

One of the instructors turned to me and said, “She’s your horse for the week.” I was so excited I nearly screamed. I knew she was just misunderstood. She had developed bad habits because of inexperienced riders. I knew I could work with her and turn her around. As I walked her out to the practice ring, she tried to rear up, but I had a hold of the halter, pulled firmly, soothed her with my voice and patted her neck. I figured we had an understanding.

As I tried to mount up, I realized I was wrong. She began bucking and twisting trying to throw me off. I’m halfway on, but still hanging on. I finally get seated and she starts rearing up. My feet were seated heavy in the stirrups and I leaned forward toward her neck. She didn’t unseat me. She then tried to buck me off. I leaned back as far as I could without hitting her hindquarters. I remained seated. This display continues for about five minutes until she calmed. Her sides were heaving and she was a bit winded. I patted her neck and told her everything was alright now.

I thought, great, all that nonsense is behind me. I thought wrong. If I let my guard down or got lazy with my signals, Lady would try something. If I relaxed the reins too much, she’d unseat the bit by pushing it forward with her tongue. Then she had complete control of her head and would take off at a gallop. I’d lean forward to remain seated. I had to take a rein in each had and firmly pull down to properly seat the bit and gain control of her head. Then we would go back to our practice lessons.
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(continued)

Shortly after I left, the camp sold some of the horses at auction and Lady was among them. I did not attend because I would have cried through the whole thing. One of the counselors called me at home after the auction. Lady was young and in great physical condition. She was a beautiful horse and they set her price at $1000.00. The bidding was quick and climbing as the rider put Lady through her paces in the arena. The rider must not have been very experienced because Lady reared up and fell over backward onto the rider.

Fortunately, the rider was not seriously hurt. The bidding was stopped and Lady’s value sunk. She was sold to an old farmer for $200.00. He said he never intended to ride her, but to put her out to pasture to keep his cow company. All that potential… wasted. I cried myself to sleep that night.

To this day I still love horses. I have dreamed of owning a horse all my life. I believe that one day soon, that dream will be a reality.
You were lucky she never rolled on you. I have seen them do that when the bucking doesn't work and they don't like the rider.
professor
wave What a beautiful post. It reminds me of a book I read BY jILLY Cooper,where my eyes were glued to the page.Every second Saturday of the month I put up a stall at the wine farm in Cape Town where the farmer also breeds lipizzaner horses,the most magnificent creatures that you can't help but want to try and ride them as well. I make bracelets and neck chains for the avid horse lovers,while my daughter-in-law has framed pictures of horses she draws using the pointillism method,and the takings go into a coffer for the breeding and caring of the magnificent animals.It only takes a special person to understand and communicate with the horse to be able to ride them,as this is not a easy task for an aggressive person,you need patience and love to understand them bouquet
Nice work Candy. hug

As you say, it takes a lot of patience and Love to understand them, which most Spanish people don´t seem to have here.
But, they are slowly waking up.

I have all the time in the world, so on the days I am at the centre, I spend my time grooming them, talking to them and exercising them without any line - just with body language.
wave Minerva in your blogs you have always given me a feeling of a very warm and caring animal lover,and this makes a huge impression as to what kind of person you are relating to.Hope your recovery is well over the worst and that you are doing a wonderful deed and may your wishes come to fruitionkiss bouquet lips lips lips
Thanks Candy for your kind words. bouquet

Not only do I help the horses, but they are also my healers and I help the kids (mostly autistic and ADD).

The pain in my hip will never go away - not at my age anyway! but I must thank my lucky stars that I didn't break any bones and that I am not in a wheelchair now. Obviously, I was saved for a greater purpose and I still have a lot of work to do on this planet. bouquet teddybear
"I have been a horse lover all my life"

I thought you said you were celibate. laugh
Jim,
laugh rolling on the floor laughing Love in the platonic, spiritual sense. To me, they are the most magnificent animals on the planet.
I left you a message on the other blog. Since we seem to have so much in common, it would be nice to communicate via our PM?

You can send me a friend´s request as my settings are blocked?
Minerva,
That would be great! hug
Minerva,
I tried to be added as a friend, but the message said: "Friends not enabled for this profile." blues
I´ve just sent you a request.

I forgot I had deleted it because of so many strange people sending me requests every day!!!doh laugh
Minerva,
Yay! We're friends. hug
Minerva,
But I still can't send you a message because I don't meet your correspondence requirements. blues Perhaps you can send me mail as I have added you as a friend.
Minerva,
Yay! Fixed. applause
I think horses are great.
But, I like dogs more.
I've never owned an elephant, but they seem very special too.
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by Willow3939
created Oct 2015
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