Priceless Memories

                Sometimes it’s hard to think of all the things that horses have brought into my life. However, after spending the day with my mom yesterday, I was reminded of some of the things that they have brought me that most people don’t really think about.

                Horses have cured my mom’s wounds as well over the years. They have been her way of escaping all of her troubles and concerns. I know that when she has to give her horse up that she won’t be on this earth for much longer.  I am so utterly glad that she has friends that are willing to help her ride at least once a week. They don’t realize how much she looks forward to that time with them and time to be able to be her again.

                So, this brings me to my topic today. Horses give us a chance to build memories with others around us that otherwise would not have happened. I mentioned in one of my other articles that if I wanted to have time with my mom I had to learn how to ride.  However, after I got Tripp that was no longer the sole reason for me riding.

                I was reminded of one of the lessons my mom attempted to give me about riding horses. I was about five or six years old, and my mom had already invested in three professional trainers for me to learn how to ride. However, I wouldn’t go any faster than a walk on the horses. I would literally tap the horses to move.  She had gotten me a Shetland pony, but I can’t remember her name. I just remember that she was stubborn as most ponies are.  If you wanted her to go anywhere you had to be willing to kick the tar out of her before she would even think about moving. Well, back then I was all about becoming a teacher, and my stepdad, (the good one!!), had built me a little school house complete with chalkboards, desks, and all kinds of other neat things in it. So, my mom decided to draw on the board how I was supposed to show the pony who was boss. Then she proceeded to tell me to straddle the desk I was sitting at and kick it with all of my might. I, again, barely kicked it. She took my legs and threw them as wide as they would go and proceeded to have me kick the desk as hard as I could. At the time I thought, oh mommy’s playing with my legs.  She later told me when I was a teenager that she wishes she would have recorded that because it would have won the America’s Funniest Video contest.  She stated that she was so frustrated with me she was beat red and getting so angry at me, and I was just a laughing and kicking like I couldn’t hurt a fly.

                One of my other favorite memories was when I finally decided that I was able to ride a pony that we had named, Sonny. Sonny was the type of pony that would assume buck you off than to look at you. You could be riding along just as happy as a lark and think oh he’s being good today, and then all of a sudden he would go into a bucking fit and try to throw you off.  Well, I had a crush on my neighbor, although I don’t think he ever knew it, and he was picking on me for riding him and not being able to handle him.  So, I let him ride the pony, and he ended up on the pony’s belly and hanging on for dear life as Sonny ran back to the barn. I’m grateful he never got hurt, but I was still young enough to not realize how bad I was for doing that knowing that he could have gotten thrown off.  The ironic thing is he owns his own beautiful horses today. I still wonder if I was part of the reason for that.

                I mentioned that we use to go on organized trail rides together.  It was always just my mom and I because her husband didn’t ride with us.  So, we would take my mattress off my bed and put in the back of the truck. I use to look forward to time for us to call it a night and go to bed because we would actually curl up and sit and talk for hours on end. That was REALLY the only time I had my mom’s undivided attention and could REALLY talk to her. (My mom did the best she could because she worked second shift and by the time she had a day off, she was always trying to get things done. I’m not trying to down grade my mom.)  Anyways, on one ride we had some friends of ours go with us, and they were camped next to us in their tents. In the middle of the night we heard a sound that sounded like a horse was very sick. So, we got up and checked on the horses and they looked at us like we were crazy. We finally come back to the camp site and low and behold it was our neighbor snoring up a storm. To this day, we haven’t figured out his wife gets any sleep. We picked on him all the next day on the ride. To this day when we see him we jibe him.

                Like any animal, horses have a way of helping us create memories with our family and friends that are totally priceless.  These are only a few handfuls of some of the ones I have had over the years. What memories are you going to create with your horses and family/friends?

By: Crystal Green