This month has given Rebekah and I a good amount of time working together on some training horses. Rebekah has been learning how to start horses and how to look for success and progress in her young horses in order to quickly move further in their training on her own, rather than wait for me to tell her. It’s been a fun month where we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time together, and it’s also given myself a look back at all of the horses and experience I’m pulling my information from. It’s so interesting to remember when exactly I learned something from a horse, like how I approached a constantly bucking pony, or one that only liked to be ridden a certain way and any other way would leave you in the dirt. And of course, remembering the ones that were so rewarding, because you put so much time and effort into them and they turned out exactly how you hoped.
Horses have their own mindset of how things should go, and sometimes they even change that mindset based on things we can only guess at. It’s a difficult path us horse lovers have chosen, one that is constantly uncertain. I cannot express how much these horses have changed my life for the better though, because of everything they’ve put me through and everything they’ve helped me through. As a child I had a serious attitude problem. I was self-centered, didn’t like to work or get dirty, and expected instant gratification. I was a shy, quiet, bratty child with no friends in elementary school, but that was about to change. I wanted to ride horses for all of the wrong reasons, and when I realized there was work involved there were times I wanted to quit. However even I could see the change that was happening in my life. I was happier and therefore helping more, which made everyone around me happier. It actually started to feel good working for something and being rewarded for that work. It started with little lessons in helping others, and hard work pays off, then it led to much larger lessons.
Sometimes, hard work doesn’t pay off and you have to let things go. Sometimes it takes longer than you think and there are many bumps along the way. What doesn’t kill you will only make you stronger, and I’ve had a few try to kill me. I’ve also had a few just make silly mistakes and still been injured, which taught me to be prepared, because no matter how much I try to do right, accidents always happen. I’ve made stupid mistakes, and still do, and horses tell on me every time! Which keeps you humble; if you are truly listening to what they are telling you, you know for certain they will always know more than you. Pretty impossible to get a big ego that way.
I don’t know what I would have turned out like if it hadn’t been for horses in my life, the difficult ones especially. But I do know they have prepared me immensely for everything I’ve come across. People can tell you life skills, try to teach you, read them to you and you can certainly learn them that way. But horses teach life skills in a way that no one else can. Horses are as real as they come, if you don’t live by and practice simple life skills and morals every day around them, you will end up in the dirt. I learned how to become a confident individual and strong friend because of horses. Horses taught me how to teach others in a respectful way. They have even helped me stay strong during pregnancy, literally helped me stay strong while giving birth, and bounce back quickly! Horses continue to teach me how to teach my own wild child, and raise a strong boy.
I realize horses are not for everyone. But if you decide to pursue these creatures, if you can embrace all of the work and knowledge they have to teach you, you will become stronger in a multitude of ways. Horse men and women are indeed the strongest people I know.
