Many years ago when I started riding, I would hang around the out door arena and watch people who had their own horses. I would lean on the top rail and watch as their horses turned, cantered, trotted and stopped to what appeared no movement from the rider and the more I watched and the more I had lessons the more I realised how hard this was. Each week I would have a lesson and then grab a tea and sit in the indoor school listening to the lessons the riders were having, keen to pick up any helpful hint although at that stage it was going over my head.
Little did I know how wrapped up I would become and how much horses would enter my soul and remain lodged there.
Anyway, one day I was watching this one woman who I had decided from my limited experience was one of the better riders to have watched and as she came out of the arena I held the gate open for her. As she passed through she turned to me and thanked me for holding the gate open.
“If I could be half as good a rider as you I would be so happy.” I said without realizing.
She smiled and thanked me for the comment but added, “You will one day soon,” and with that she left.
My very first pony came and I learnt a great deal, from falling off to hanging on, from screaming loudly to whimpering in blind panic, but for some inconceivable reason I loved him. We were together for a couple of years but to be honest he was too small for me and I sold him to a woman who was going to use him for her children. He was ideal and he had a good life with them.
Next came Magpie; a black and white terrorist with soft brown eyes and a winning disposition. He was the love of many a person and was used by the riding school to teach new riders and disabled ones. He was a sweet heart and I learned so much. I taught him to go in harness and ride long distances. We had ten great years together and had so much fun. It wasn’t until he was approaching ten years old himself I founds out he had a bone disease in his front end which meant he was always standing on tip toe. Eventually he would be unable to stand but we had had fun and in the summer of his tenth year I had to have him put down. By this time I had been riding for over fourteen years and had forgotten about the desires I had had initially.
I took my time looking for the next one, but to be honest he found me. He too was in the riding school. A baby, he had recently arrived from Ireland and knew little save his liking for me. Every time I walked passed where he was tied up during the day he would grab my coat and pull me to him. In the end I decided to take him out for a ride and fell in love. The latest horse came to me and his name was Murphy. Like Magpie he knew very little but was a very different animal all together. Where Magpie was quiet and gentle, this one was bullish and excited. He would bronco around the indoor school squealing with delight as I rode him around like a cowgirl. His trot was amazing and he would move with such grace and style but he could keep it up for half an hour at a time! I would be purple in the face and sweating as much as him but in the end he developed skills which were a credit to him.
One day I came into the indoor school with Murphy at my side. He had been stuck in his stable for most of the day and was a high as a kite. As the door opened and he saw the sand arena he began to bronc, squealing in such a manner it set the other horses off inside. I knew I was in for an interesting one and taking off my coat and putting on my hat and gloves before I got to the mounting block, I walked up the steps, straddled the horse and we took off. For the next forty minutes we swung from bronco riding to a beautiful trot but he would do anything else.
After forty minutes I started to introduce turns and spins and in the end we did canter without exploding, we changed direction without bucking and we finally came to a halt without plunging. I stood in the middle of the arena and looked around me. It was really the first time I had looked up from my horse. It was almost empty, the horses had got out the way for Chubs (a nick name of his) and now he was calmer they were moving around the arena with confidence.
Io walked Chubs over to the side and picked up my coat and a rug for him; together we steamed gently.
A woman leant over and looked at me saying, “If I could ride half as well as you can I would be so happy. You are a beautiful rider and he is a magnificent horse.”
With a smile I looked at her, “You will one day soon,” and smiling to myself I left to take him down the lane to cool off.
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