The five horses we meet in life....

FHOTD posted today about "The five horses we meet in life"  from the book "Horses in the Yard" by Joanne Friedman, this made me think a lot about the horses in my life. They are the reason I started blogging and have continued to blog, (although all of you have a lot to do with that too : 0) I really have to find this book now. Well I looked for this book at Borders and could only find it online at Amazon, if anyone else is interested.



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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. I was escorted to the party by The Black, Walter Farley’s star horse in The Black Stallion series…

 
My Intro Horse....was my Moms first horse Silkey, we used to ride with three of us on her, my sister in the front, Mom, with me on the back, and go for trail rides and wherever before I got my first pony. Silkey taught me a lot, she was a good horse. I started 4-H on her, Mom and I gamed her together, and she did pretty good.

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…
 
This horse was probably my pony Pepsi LOL, experimenting with what to do with him, all day out on our ponies, and sharing a peanutbutter sandwich with him, getting bucked off because I got hair caught in his cinch, he was the first horse that kicked me, in the ribs and knocked the wind out of me, and the only one to ever connect LOL you learn that lesson fast. He also taught me a lot. Mom and Dad got him for me when I was 6 years old, this picture is from 1973.
 

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…
 
My first horse that I really felt connected to, Joe, or Mescaline was his registered AQHA name. Joe, we had a 4-H career, we spent summers riding from sun up to sun down, he would do just about anything I asked him to, I rode this horse through my teenage years, and loved him very much. He died of cancer when I was in my 20's.

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…
 
I know exactly who this horse is LOL, Mickey. She is my $300 horse, our first horse as adults, as she was originally bought to train for Hubby, but she bucked him off twice and I think he decided he really didnt want to do this horse thing LOL. Mickey Mickey Mickey, she has really taught me so much, also the only horse to ever send me to the hospital, my fault of course. We still have her, she will be 21 this coming year, we bought her when she was two. Mickey was a bucker for the first 7-8 years I had her under saddle, not when being ridden usually, but when you would cinch her up, didnt matter slow, soft, or how ever I could try to make it more comfortable for her, every time she would blow up, then she was fine, and she very rarely bucked with me on her. She finally got over it, or I figured out what was causing it, or both. Mickey carried Meghan through 3 years of 4-H, she never did really well on her but they got out there and got blues and reds in most everything. Mickey, definately my challenger. She still is too at 21, she doesnt really like to be ridden bareback, she is flinchy and sensitive to your legs, sometimes feeling on the verge of bucking lol she is so good from the ground, and easy to handle, she would make a good babysitter for baby horses, as she is boss but not mean about it.
 

I love this picture, because I was trying to call Meghan and get her picture, but the one who looked at me was Mickey LOL.

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…
 
 
So far this horse has to be Emma. Emma can be a challage at times, there are times that I really connect to her, especially on trail rides, and at this point I am really done experimenting! She is good for me, when I have her caught up and saddled she is solid as a rock, I can stumble around her and into her and she doesnt care, I can climb up her side and get in the saddle and she just stands there, no matter how wobbly I am, and I can be sometimes. At times she is like my Intro horse, steady and quiet, and waiting for me to figure it out, if I ever have to give her up I will miss her tremendously. She is uncomplicated, marish and a love, unflappable on the trails, easy to catch, easy to clean her stall, she isnt messy lol. Emma will be 10 on January 10th, she has been a good experience in my life, easy to train under saddle and stubborn and.... LOL she really is a good horse, predictable in so many ways, but fun for me, she has a fun personality, and is a goofball. That is Emma. She will probably be the last horse I will have. I first seen Emma in photos a friend would bring in to show me at the feed store I worked at, I fell in love with her when I seen her in those pictures as a foal, and bought her when she was two.
 
This is fun to do a remenice around New Years, reminding me why I go out and brave the weather morning and night, haul hay and grain and water, feed and groom and clean barn....dispite all the work, getting out on the trails and riding and having that bond with your horse, that, makes it all worth it. I have had a lot of horses in my life, and these 5 are the ones that have taught me the most.
 
Who was your Intro horse, your experimental, challange, or who is your Deepest heart?
 
My Emma