Getting To Know Me Part II: The Early Years

I spent my childhood kind of obsessing over horses, these beautiful creatures that were always just out of reach. When we'd go to the zoo, I would ride the horses on the carousel; anywhere that had a horse, or pony ride, I was there eagerly awaiting my turn then longing for the next opportunity as soon as it was over. To placate my horsey fantasies, if I helped out around the house my parents would let me pick out a toy at the store when grocery shopping. My choice was always a Grand-Champions horse or sometimes another brand that I saw was on sale for even cheaper, I never wanted them to break the bank when it came to my wants.

When my second youngest sister was born, we finally moved a little more into suburban life, away from our at times a little cramped home with a little back yard. From there, my world opened up immensely! I had my own room with space to decorate now, and I quickly lined my shelves with the plastic ponies and a bookshelf was built to hold my books. My library quickly expanded to include several editions of "The Encyclopedia of the Horse", "Illustrated Encyclopedia of Horse Breeds", and every book that so much as had horse in the title of it. My mom found a farm down the road from us that featured a lesson program. It was the cheapest option my parents could find for me to be able to go see horses and finally learn to ride.

There I learned from an incredible trainer, who I would continue to train under for the next 8+ years (and still talk to her frequently, while I watch her train the next generation of great horseman). I read every book I owned from cover to cover repeatedly; teachers were displeased that I was reading things such as the encyclopedia during Silent Sustained Reading in 5th grade class, one even going so far as telling me that I was not retaining anything from it and needed to find other books to read. I told her that I could name over 100 breeds and their characteristics off the top of my head. She didn't believe me, giving me a sheet of notebook paper and a pen, and telling me to write out 80 breeds on the page while sitting at her desk with her while everyone else was reading still. I did, in alphabetical order. She begrudgingly said I could continue with my reading. This memory stuck with me though because it was just the first of the many times I would be questioned over the years for my choice in reading and my informal education in horses. I am not college-educated in Equine Science like some are nowadays, I learned by dealing with some of the best and some of the rankest horses owned by people like myself with not a ton of money to burn to fix a problem. I learned by working with the horse and learning their language along the way, I am equine-educated.

Finally, at 13 years old, my dream horse found his way into my life. A bay Arabian gelding named Austin, who was supposed to be a show jumper lesson horse but he was too much for many of the riders to handle. He would charge through the bridle at mach-10 and riders had to run him into walls to get him to stop. I enjoyed the challenge of getting to know him, he was guarded about trusting anyone and I wanted more desperately than anything to have his trust. I was going to be 14, so after many tears over someone else riding "my" horse and treating him unkindly, they surprised me by purchasing my beautiful baby boy from the lesson program, but under one condition: I pay for his board and care when I was able to get a job. At 14 this was daunting, but I had a plan! I got my work permit signed from school and got a job at the local McDonald's with my two older sisters. I went to school in the morning, then from school I went to work at McDonald's which was about a mile (uphill walk) from the barn where my horse was, and after work I would go to the barn. The summer went by quickly, but I easily got into a rhythm and loved every second of it. Freshman year of high school proved to be a struggle to balance everything though, and this was remedied quickly by my plea to be home-schooled and do an online program; of course this was in the infancy of online home schooling and came with it's own learning curves as we fought with the technology but that's a whole other story ha ha. I traded in time with my classmates, most of which were either indifferent to or bullied me, for time at my sanctuary.

On days when I had work in the late morning or early afternoon, I would have my parents drop me off at the barn and I would work with my trainer, then walk to work and get picked up from work (or catch a ride home with my older sisters) late at night. I relished in these early morning rides, as Austin and I learned how to dance together performing every movement imaginable. The first time we performed a series of alternating lead changes down center-line made my heart skip, the first time we did a full canter pirouette I thought there was nothing better than this synchronicity with my best friend. Through my teenage heartbreaks, friends becoming enemies, etc. my constant became my horse and my trainer became best friend. At this time I could barely afford anything for my horse because board was expensive, even with me doing self-care; we had a nice basic grooming kit I put together and a lovely western bridle that I kept cleaned and oiled for him. I couldn't afford a saddle, so borrowed a comfy western one from my barn when I could. We were doing western dressage before it became a big thing around here, but my trained didn't care about the equipment, she thought that regardless of your discipline, you should know these movements and how to perform them correctly.

I spent many years working with her, riding my own horse and any other that she felt I should at the barn. She'd have me hop on a horse after someone fell and blamed the horse, just to show that it wasn't the horse to blame but the rider not listening to direction. From her, I learned the most solid foundation I could as a horseman, she showed me everything she knew about riding, care, grooming turnout, etc. I carry that knowledge with me still and now help sponsor riders that come from her 4H program, come fair time. From there, I went on to help out at many local barns, doing everything from mucking stalls and turnout to helping trainers with horses. I learned how to gentle young horses and get them used to saddle work, how to oversee a pregnancy and proper foal care, re-training horses off the track and "problem" horses, grooming and turnout for competition, etc.

All this time though, I had been constantly looking for ways to improve my own horse's happiness and comfort in life. I incorporated massage which kept him more level-headed and eager to please, though I didn't quite understand how it worked at the time, I just did what my secondhand equine massage books told me to without knowing how it was all connected. I pursued natural horsemanship methods and liberty work, learning how to join-up and eventually going bareback and bridle-less with Austin. He eventually, like many horses with Arabian heritage around here, became metabolic though. Which brings me to how I got really into everything that I do now to help horses and the drive behind helping to heal them.