I've had animals of some kind or other my entire life. Dogs. Cats. Birds. Mice. Hamsters. Bunnies. Fish. I can't ever recall not having animals around for more than just a few weeks at a time. We bond with them and they have special places in our lives. They're family in every sense.
But horses are still special. They're big. They're a lot of work. They require a big commitment to their care and training. My horses have brought a grace and dignity to my life that I wouldn't have otherwise. Horseback riding is much like dancing. It's one of the few athletic activities that requires moving with another living being. Boxing also comes to mind. But no, even on the ground, it's more like dancing.
Much of our training is convincing our equine partner that there's nothing for them to be afraid of, nothing is going to hurt them, and you build your relationship on trust. You can't make a horse do anything. And whatever they do they have to do under their own power. So you learn to persuade. And build a partnership working together.
So. I lost another friend this past season. It's very hard to explain my affection for G. I didn't blog much about G. Truth is. G was dangerous.
There's nothing rational about one's affection so I never thought about it much. I'd had G since she was born. She was the cutest baby! Her sire was a 16+ hand champion Overo Paint. Her dam was a classic Quarter Horse type Tobiano. Fifteen hands, very stoutly built. G was to be my forever horse.
Things don't always work out. For whatever reason...oh, her delivery was very difficult and she was very sick when she was 4 or 5 months old...G turned very aggressive when she turned 2. You learned right quick to recognize that hard look in her eye and let her have it. Less she kick you in to the middle of next week. Things got very hard when she was 8 or so because she stopped giving that hard eye warning. You'd just hear her suck in some air when she was gonna let you have it and you had better be fast on you feet. You learned to pay attention...*always*.
And she never grew in to what we'd thought she'd be. Barely 13 hands and 800 pounds she was too small for me to put under saddle. We started training her drive but she persistently came up lame after brief work sessions. Turns out she had a bone defect in her right foot that caused her to be lame under the slightest amount of stress.
She ended up just being a big expensive pet. It's sad really. She was a real cute horse and if she'd had a kind heart and willing temperament she'd have been a great project for a 4H kid.
I don't think one ever gets over this stuff. I've been through it before, I'll go through it again. Very hard decisions are sometimes thrust upon us and we never think of that when you get yourself into it. Thankfully she never did hurt anyone. And she left this life as easily as one can. And with a mouth full of clover. For that I'm grateful.
No comments:
Post a Comment