5 Things I am Thankful For

With Thanksgiving only six (SIX? HOLY CRAP! Why didn’t anyone TELL MEEEE!) days away, I have decided to sit down and think about five things I am thankful for that relate to my horses. If you would like to do the same, feel free to post in the comments. And yes, I went there with a silly animated turkey. Because eating turkey is one of my favorite things about Thanksgiving. And pumpkin pie. Turkey and pumpkin pie... is there anything better?

1) I am thankful I have horses. Because a lot of people don’t, and a lot of people who did have had to give them up. Growing up I always had a horse, thanks to my Mom and Dad. There was Sundance, Lori, Bars, Echo, Jiffy, and Zaz. And one or two crazy ones in between, but I won’t list those, because if I’m being honest I’m not that thankful for them. Then I went off to college, leaving my six year old paint Zaz behind for my parents to care for, and they sold him. At the time I was furious and truly upset, and I do wish I knew where he was now because he was a good sweet horse, but by selling him it made me go horseless for about a year and a half… and opened up the door for Darwin! My goofy, lovable, off the track thoroughbred I got when I was a sophomore in college. PS – If you ever want to give your Mother a heart attack, tell her you’re just got a horse despite the fact that you have no money and no place to keep it.
2) I am thankful I went to college and majored in Equine Studies and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree of Animal Science. Lots of people say horses are just a hobby and you can’t make a living off of them. Well, yes you can. I am. But you have to be careful how you go about it. You have to have the right personality. Loving horses won’t get you through, neither will being an awesome rider because those are a dime a dozen and lets face it if you were that awesome you would be off showing at some fancy barn on your outrageously expensive warmblood instead of worrying about how to make a living with horses. So I’m thankful I went to college and got my bachelor’s degree and got a job immediately working at a private farm which gave me free housing and free board and a salary. What other job is going to give you that other than a barn management position?

3) I am thankful for Darwin. If you read this blog, you know Darwin is my nine year old thoroughbred gelding. As I’ve said before I got him for free when I was a sophomore in college and he’s been with me ever since, bouncing with me from barn to barn (six barns in five years, I’m a bad Mom) and generally being AWESOME. Except when I had him at the last barn and he was a skitzso maniac terrified of everything. But I can’t really blame him there. Darwin will be my forever horse. I want my children to ride him. My friends already have on one drunken night that does not bear repeating. He is sweet and loving and acts more like a person than a horse, although he can have his freak OUT moments. Darwin isn’t the most athletic of horses. He can’t really jump, and he most likely will never go about first level dressage. He has had lameness issues with his hocks, but as long as I don’t push him he stays sound completely barefoot and on no supplements or bute, so I’m thankful for that too. He’s really just an overall awesome horse who I love to bits. Yay Darwin!

4) I am thankful I can teach lessons. This kind of ties into number 3, because I teach most of my lessons on Darwin, but I’m very thankful that his personality allows me to do that. Darwin has been giving lessons (we’re talking two – three of the same people every week, never more, often less) since he was five years old. He LOVES to be ridden by people that aren’t me (isn’t that how it always works?) and when a lesson student steps into the saddle a golden halo appears between his ears. The two lesson students he has now are at opposite ends of the spectrum. One is on her way to becoming a fantastic dressage rider, and the other is a middle aged woman who rode as a child but is just getting back into it. Darwin is great for both of them. He collects and has energy for the dressage rider and he acts dead to the world for the beginner. Yeah, he’s pretty awesome. No, you can’t have him. But I bet you want him, don’t you? Don’t you?! I’m also thankful for every lesson horse out there in the world who has ever quietly and gently put up with a yanking, bouncing child or impatient yanking, bouncing adult. You make the equine world keep turning, lesson horses. I tip my hat to you.

5) I am thankful for the big blond moose that is Poppy. I love my Popstar. I bought her at a dealer with the intention of using her for adult beginners at the barn I was teaching/managing. She did end up doing a few lessons, mostly lead line and one or two advanced “training” lessons for two of my students who were interested in learning how you go about training a green horse, but for the most part she is a one horse lady. Maybe it’s because I did all of her under saddle training and probably didn’t do it right, so all her signals are backwards, but she just does not respond that great to other riders (unlike Darwin). She doesn’t do anything bad. She just trots when they want her to walk, turns around when they want her canter, turns left when they try to turn right, like I said, I’m sure it’s my fault… mixed wires and all that. Poppy went a long way in restoring my confidence riding outside the ring. Darwin has never been a fan of traveling outside the safe zone, so relaxing trail rides were never an option with him and I never really pushed it. But Poppy… Poppy wants to feel fresh grass under her hooves. She wants the breeze in her face. She’ll take on any horse, anytime, anywhere in a head to head sprint across an open field (and yes, by some miracle of God, she always wins). I haven’t galloped like I have on her since Bars took off with my bucking across the field behind my house. My dream is one day do lower level eventing with Poppy. I know beyond a doubt she will be able to do it, but I just have to bite the bullet and get my ass out there on the cross country field. And for those of you who think I am cruel for putting Poppy in such a tiny field, let me remind you that I did not put her there. This is how I found her one summer morning when I came to the barn to feed the horses and bring them in. She's supposed to be in the field to the right.

So that’s it! Five horse related things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving. Thanks for reading!