The horse obsessed girl in all of us.

While sitting at a drill meeting last night, I randomly thought.
Every girl in this room was me once.
Every girl begged their parents for a pony.
Every girl sat up dreaming about their riding lesson the next day.
Every girl played with toy horses for hours on end.

I few days ago, while loping on Rosie, I had a thought. The first time I cantered, it was a strange gait. Infact, every gait was strange. It was a miracle to think of myself sitting, stride for stride upon a 1,200 animal, perfectly in tune. When I was younger, it was an awkward sense of freedom. I didn't know where I was going or how I was doing it, but I knew the lesson pony would calmly canter around the indoor arena until I said "whoa".

Every one of these girls was a biggener at some point, and it would be foolish to say that Clinton Anderson started out knowing every little thing about horses. We pick things up as we go along, if we keep our ears and eyes open. Books can tell you a lot about horses, but you won't learn anything until you actually lay your hands on a horse..

The most valuable things that I have ever learned about horses, were from trainers, ferriers and other horsemen (other than where the "poll" is located on a horse. First part of the horse I ever memorized). Karen taught me always to practice slow. Charles taught me it's not in your hands, but in your seat. Rod taught me where I should properly place my saddle on a horses back (when I first got a horse, Dream, I had a thing about putting it behind her withers lol).

It's sad to think though, not all these girls will enjoy horses 10 years from now. Some of them, will just grow tired of it, or just not see any use. Most of these girls are the ones that don't always take advice from other riders. Their horses act up, and they refuse to realize that it's their fault as a rider. They realize that riding just isn't as fun as they were hoping, and they loose touch with their inner equestrain.

I'm still as horse obsessed as I was 14 years ago. I still draw horses on every peice of paper I can find, I'm always surfing the internet learning about horses, I'm outside as much as I can be (except for now......110 degrees, no thanks!) just sitting and laying in the pasture adoring my "babies"..

Another thing that gets kids out of horses, is having horses pushed on them. Their parents buy them an expessive horse, get them going to big time shows, riding a horse that is totally out of their league. Or, the parents that make their kids do way more equine activities than they would like. They just want to ride, have fun with friends and enjoy the bond with their horse.

I'm glad my parents never pushed it on me. They challenged me, yes, but they never made me do something I wasn't wanting to do (other than the time I was scared to lope on Dream 6 months after she bucked me off..my mom wasn't to happy about that lol).

Just for kicks and giggles.........gotta love my dad!