#1 - My First Horse - Blue Boy
I can’t remember a time in my life that I didn’t yearn for a horse. I think it’s all I ever asked for from the time I could talk. My parents finally gave in when my grandpa found one for me. I recall going out to a pasture with an old cowboy and meeting Blue Boy for the first time. He was a three-year-old, green-broke Morgan/Arabian cross. I absolutely loved him! I’m pretty sure I didn’t take him for a test ride or learn how to handle him. I was eight and we had no experience with horses. To this day, I wonder what my parents were thinking!
Luckily, Blue Boy was a gentle soul and we bonded in no time at all. He did throw me off a time or two, but I just climbed back on, gave him a talking-to, and tried again. I can remember pretending I was a circus rider and standing on his back. I also recall laying across him when he was napping in the pasture. I was always authentic with Blue Boy. Whether I was happy, sad, or mad, I would share my emotions with him because I knew he understood me.
We spent our summers together from sun-up to sundown riding through the hayfields and playing games of pretend with my friend and her pony. We were cowgirls, warriors, circus riders, jockeys, and storm-chasers. During the winters, we often made tracks through the snow with me riding bareback to take advantage of Blue’s body heat. My relationship with him was effortless. Sometimes I chose what we would do and sometimes he did. We would just “be'' together and that was all that mattered. I joined 4-H and Blue and I went on trail rides, showed at the fair, walked in parades, and went trick-or-treating together.
Apparently we didn’t have the best showing at the 4-H fair because shortly afterward my parents arranged for riding lessons. The amount we didn’t know about horses must have been quite clear. I started out on my teacher’s horse. I fell in love with the English saddle and started jumping. One day I brought Blue for a lesson and after a short discussion, the verdict was that he had to be replaced with a fancier horse if I wanted to start showing. So I said goodbye to Blue Boy. It was a sacrifice that I had to make; one that I would make again and again over the years. To this day, I have not been able to keep a horse for its entire lifetime. I still yearn for a forever horse more than I ever have before.
Looking back, these are the lessons that I learned from Blue Boy:
Your relationship with your horse is the foundation for everything. We never took Blue Boy to a trainer, yet he would do anything for me. He crossed everything on trail rides, carried me in my Halloween costumes, packed me in parades, and tolerated the 4-H fair. Blue was always willing.
“Being” is important. I was filled with joy when I had Blue Boy and I think much of that can be attributed to me just “being” with him. So much of our time together was non-demanding, as I wasn’t trying to train him. I was just there, being his friend.
Give your horse some choices. After Blue Boy, I started showing. It was many years before I ever gave a horse choices again. When I think back to how Blue Boy took care of me, I’m convinced that me giving him choices from time to time played a big part in that. I really believe he felt like we were partners.
