I had an epiphany while driving home from the barn today. It’s not required that every post on my website be deeply insightful, or provide a tutorial on writing. I can take a leaf from my posts on Facebook and make this a good deal more casual.
So here is a little story about horses. Who are magical and wonderful, and I love them very much. And they are also astoundingly stupid and fearful. Though I guess it’s hard to blame them, they are prey animals.
Anyway, I went out to ride late this afternoon after the temperature had started to drop, and discovered that the property next to the barn has added in an above ground swimming pool, and they were having a kid’s party that included one of those four wheel dirt bike things in addition to the swimming pool.
Because horses are fearful and not all that bright things that suddenly flash in and out of their vision makes them think there are saber tooth tigers just waiting to eat them. They’re also not all that fond of loud noises.
My ride began with a small bunny deciding to dart out into the arena and then freeze there. My stallion, Vento, took umbrage at this small creature, but I showed him the bunny with both sides of his brain, and we were getting past that when he became aware of small humans suddenly and randomly popping up at the top of a ladder, then jumping into the pool with a shriek and a scream.
Meanwhile the dirt bike was racing up and down the fence line, but there are trees partially lining the fence so the bike would suddenly appear and disappear all the while making a frightful racket.
Horses can deal with scary things when they occur at regular intervals. Eventually they just accept that this scary thing isn’t about to kill them. But in this case there was no pattern to the scary stuff so my ride turned into three trot steps — SPOOK! Five trot steps — BOLT! I used all my tricks, tight circles, half-pass, leg yield, piaffe, passage, but it was late, there was no one around, and I decided prudence was the better part of valor so after getting some decent passage I gave up and put my boy away.
I thought about trying a ride on Donhador, but his stall is very close to all the commotion, and the usually calm and phlegmatic Noodles was also freaking out over the appearing and disappearing humans and humans on a dirt bike. He would take a few bites of his hay, then stiffen, throw his head in the air and stare in consternation at the hullabaloo. Considering that he is a ferocious chow hound and it takes real effort to pull him away from his food I could tell he was really bothered by this. So I wimped out and made grain packets instead.
Hopefully things will have quieted down a bit tomorrow, and I’ll be riding earlier when there are other people around. I’ve had the not so fun experience of taking a bad fall where a horse slipped in the mud and fell on me crushing my ankle. I was alone, and had to get myself into the house and call for help to get to the hospital. I’d rather not do that again.
Still horses are magical and wonderful, and when you are riding you have to put yourself totally in the moment. Worries about work or relationships or the disastrous situation currently afflicting the country just slip away. It is a time spent in deep communication with another living creature. It’s mental therapy and physical activity, and I’ve found nothing that can match the experience.
