The Five Horses We Meet in Life
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.
The first horse I really remember was a mare named Willy. She was an old broodmare from a huge breeding facility that my mom used to work at. My mom would occasionally bring me to work with her. This choice that proof to be the cause of my horse addiction. The whole family blames her for it! It is a very fuzzy memory but she was the sweetest mare. She was a dull chestnut and I cannot remember her legs, not quite sure if she had white or not. I do remember her eyes she has these huge doe eyes that were so much like a kind grandmother or a sweet mother. Her also had (again it is fuzzy) a star stripe on her face. She was my favorite horse on the farm that housed around 64 horses. I was always insistent on seeing her first and saying goodbye to her. She was an angle and mom tossed me up on her back several times. I was suddenly infatuated with horses. I do have a photo of her some where so if I can find it I will scan it she really did have a kind eye, her eyes remind me of our mare Toccata.
It was a while later and I cannot remember when that mom told me that Willy had passed away I was devastated. I’m am not sure if at the time I has hoped that once they had retired her that she would magically become mine or not but it was very very sad. It still pulls at my heart stings and I can’t remember her all that well her allure was obviously quite strong.
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…
At first I couldn’t think of a good example but now that I think about it I think I can claim Elvira as this horse. She was the first horse that I ever rode with a trainer. She was an older Arabian also chestnut. Amazing I rode her for at least 8 years and I do not think I have any photos…. This mare was a saint. She tolerated everything and was a bombproof angel. I learned everything on her. Now as I learn to teach my students I realized how much of a god send this mare was. For example I remember trying to put on the bridle for the first no make that 15 times. I now feel very sorry for her. Same with the saddle, the feet, blanketing, haltering and simple leading. She just tolerated me doing everything wrong. Under saddle she was also great. I could do anything on her back and she would just stop she never not listened to a command she would turn and go. Now if I was sitting there complaining to my trainer about her not doing what I wanted, it was always my fault she was doing what I was asking her.
One time I had been riding for a while then about a year and was quiet nearly ready for canter work at the age of 7 or 8. I was post trotting around the pen when she tripped and fell on her front knees. I fell forward and with being in a western saddle my gut was jammed into the saddle horn. So help me I cried and assumed that she had done it to me intentionally…hey I was 7. My trainer came over and started to tell me that she tripped and went down on her knees, we were both fine. Just so you know I hit that horn HARD. I mean I had the wind knock out of me so it hurt. I walked around on her for a while and it really shattered my confidence. Being my first riding accident (if you can call it that) I now knew that riding could hurt, I had never even thought about falling until then…. It took me years to get back to trotting and even longer to canter but alas I did. I remember this mare very well she taught me so very very much.
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…
Above is Marquisse and I by a big stump. Her front two hooves are on a smaller stump.
I’m going to have to say that this is Marquisse. She is my rock my heart a soul. I feel quite nearly I could die with out her. I don’t think I can write anything that can bring her justice or explain what we have together. She being my first horse tolerated a lot and understands a lot. We have our ups and downs with each having a great impact. This is the mare that will fly backwards and then spook so that she does not run into me, she is the mare that can be galloping full tilt and stop on a dime if I fall off, she is the one who read the showmanship manual before I did, she is also the one who will get pissed and throw herself and me on the ground, she is the mare that will prove her point to me, she is the mare that knows English, she is the mare that loves me best, she is also the mare that will come in the pasture when no one else will, she is the mare that can face near death with me and for me, she is the mare that I would sell my soul to the devil for.
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…
Above is Arlo after a lot of blood sweat and tears, to bad you can tell his personality through a photo.
This made me laugh and I instantly thought of Forba and then I thought Arlo and now I am thinking Satin. I think I will pick Arlo with Forba as a close second. Arlo came to me abused and very unruly. He was a very rude gelding trying to mount the mares and was an overall bully. He would push you around and shy away from things. It has taken time patience and consistency to get him to where he is now. I get offers on him all the time, most retired or children. If only they had meet him when I had. They would want no business with him. It really does make me laugh now. To remember how bad he was then and how he is now. He is really a different horse.
Then there is Forba.
Ahh Forba, she is actually quiet recent. She is the mare that my trainer told me to get rid of or was a lost cause. I had no intention of showing her but I did want to breed her and as she was when I bought her she wasn’t manageable. My trainer seriously told me to just sell it. It yes it she was just horrible. After a solid month of my trainer long lining her as she had no business being ridden, she was not broke. I was able to get on her. I rode her for a solid two months. Trust me it was not easy as this mare has a horrible bone crushing jaw breaking jack hammer trot. Yes it is bad… she is the mare that will teach you how to post as you are doing everything yourself. She did not canter when we started and after two months she would canter. Although she had to be ridden with draw rains and a riding crop she cantered. It alluded both my trainer and I that people where riding this mare let alone children. My trainer told me as long as I stuck with Haflinger’s this mare would be hands down the hardest thing I would ever encounter. I fully believe that. Forba has taught me leaps and bounds, she is now ride able by children on the trails and intermediate can walk trot her in the pen. She still needs a semi experienced rider to canter he as she still has serious shoulder issues. He ground manners were another matter all together trust me she is much better but still a little off for a Haflinger. I like to chalk it up to her rich breeding.
Above is a photo of Forba; on the left is after her make over on the right is about 2 weeks after we brought her home.
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…
Marquisse bar none. For example the other day, I was told that she had fell on the concrete isle in our barn. I nearly had a heart attack and had to check every inch of her. The next day I lead her into the barn from the pasture along with three other mares. As my hands were full I could not walk her all the way down the narrow isle with everyone else. I knew that she knows what room is her so I tossed her lead rope over her back and took her halter in my hand, looking her dead in the eye I told her to walk and reminded her that she fell last time. I swear to god she blinked and nodded at me, she walked down the isle and into her room.
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