Why do I own a horse?

This horse owning experience has been very interesting for me. Let me first say that I'm an older beginning horse rider and that I've loved horses since I was a little girl. I think it's a gene that skipped generations. My grandfather had work horses as a farmer early in the 20th century and family lore has it that he loved them more than he did his own kids. My mother and my children are afraid of horses; my sister and I can't get enough of them. When I first thought about buying, it was the fulfillment of that little girl's dream. And somewhere along the way I had developed the certainty that I wanted a horse so I could learn to ride dressage. I knew it. I had been taking dressage lessons on and off for a couple of years on a few different horses. My best horse buddy, Susan, is very into dressage and the positive effects it has on her, both physical and mental. She says if it weren't for riding, she would be on some anti-depressant or anti-anxiety drug. She's a psychologist and also says that if everyone knew about horses and riding, psychologists would be out of business. And I totally get that - I agree. Riding takes such concentration that it is in itself a highly disciplined meditative exercise.



But over these six months since I've had Navaroan, I've gone through many ups, downs and changes. I've read a lot of books - a few of which I would highly recommend. Among them are anything by Mark Rashid , and Be With Your Horse, by Tom Widdicombe I've gotten these books from Amazon, just in case these links get stale. Also, Kate at A Year With Horses has done wonderful reviews of these and other books. She discusses them much more eloquently than I ever could. I also recommend Sylvia Loch's books. She's a Brit who champions classical dressage in simple, elegant language.



What I've learned is that what I really want is to have to have a good relationship with Navi. Developing that relationship has superceded any goals I had earlier about learning to ride dressage. Horses are wild animals who combine grace, strength, power and spirit all in one magnificent package. I need to figure out what Navi really needs and how we can learn to trust each other. As time goes by, I think I started at the wrong end with him, not that there's anything wrong with where he is now - he's in a great stable complex and is well-cared for. I have a trainer who is not only good, but also a lovely human being. However...

Navi's been very spooky for a good long while and we're trying everything we can think of to help him through it. Because of the move, I didn't make it to the barn for over 2 weeks. When I did finally make it again, not only was he spooky, he was also lame again - only 7 weeks since they last injected his hocks. In the long term, this may become a big issue. In the short term, it gave me the perfect reason to just hang out with him without feeling I had to explain why I wasn't riding. I was on vacation after Christmas and decided to arrive at the barn sometime after 3 o'clock. The horses are back in their stalls by then and have been fed their grain and hay. Every day, I did some carrot stretches with Navi in his stall and fed him some of his favorite treat, peppermints. Then I just relaxed there with him as he munched on his hay. I could feel the tension draining as I stood there listening to him and the other horses. I left the stall once to change boots because my feet were beginning to freeze and he nickered after me. I returned and we hung out some more. It was so calming, for both of us, I think.



People have voiced concern about hand-feeding him because he came to our barn with little in the way of manners or respect for others' space. Oh, and did I mention that he's a very big horse (a presenter at a clinic we attended called him "giant horse") with very strong ideas? On our second day of just hanging around, after I had given him carrots and peppermints, when he wanted more and started pushing toward my coat pockets and hands, all I had to do was say, no, quietly and he stopped. No nibbling, no licking, no touching me. I suppose this isn't much, but it seemed like a lot to me.

So that's my plan for now. We're just going to hang out and get to know each other. I'll add other ground work as we go along, but slowly, as it seems we're both comfortable with it. And I'm worried that he doesn't get to be playful enough. I need to give that some thought, too.

A random note about the second picture of him. His lighter muzzle color only appeared when his winter coat started growing in. I'm told this means he isn't "true black."