My daughter turned sixteen
years old today; which is a milestone for most people. Besides looking
at baby photos and childhood trinkets with her, I took time to reflect
on the young woman my daughter had become and the choices she wouldface
in the future.
As I looked at her I could
see the athlete she was, and determined woman she would soon be. I
started thinking about some of the girls we knew in our town who were
already pregnant, pierced in several places, hair every color under the
sun, drop outs, drug addicts and on the fast track to no-where, seeking
surface identities because they had no inner self esteem. The parents of
these same girls have asked me why I "waste" the money on horses so my
daughter can ride. I'm told she will grow out of it, lose interest,
discover boys and all kinds of things that try to pin the current
genera-tion' s "slacker" label on my child. I don't think it will
happen, I think she will love and have horses all her life.
Because my daughter grew up
with horses she has compassion. She knows that we must take special care
of the very young and the very old. We must make sure those without
voices to speak of their pain are still cared for.
Because my daughter grew up
with horses she learned responsibility for others than herself. She
learned that regardless of the weather you must still care for those you
have the stewardship of. There are no "days off" just because you don't
feel like being a horse owner that day. She learned that for every hour
of fun you have there are days of hard slogging work you must do first.
Because my daughter grew up
with horses she learned not to be afraid of getting dirty and that
appearances don't matter to most of the breathing things in the world we
live in. Horses do not care about designer clothes, jewelry, pretty
hairdos or anything else we put on our bodies to try to
impress others. What a horse cares about are your abilities to work within his natural world, he doesn't care if you're wearing $80.00 jeans while you do it. -
Because my daughter grew up
with horses she understands the value of money. Every dollar can be
translated into bales of hay, bags of feed or farrier visits. Purchasing
non-necessities during lean times can mean the difference between feed
and good care, or neglect and starvation. She has learned to judge the
level of her care against the care she sees provided by others and to
make sure her stan-dards never lower, and only increase as her knowledge
grows.
Because my daughter grew up
with horses she has learned to learn on her own. She has had teachers
that cannot speak, nor write, nor communicate beyond body language and
reactions. She has had to learn to "read" her surroundings for both safe
and unsafe objects, to look for hazards where others might only see a
pretty meadow. She has learned to judge people as she judg
es horses. She looks beyond appearances and trappings to see what is within.
Because my daughter grew up
with horses she has learned sportsmanship to a high degree. Everyone
that competes fairly is a winner. Trophies and ribbons may prove someone
a winner, but they do not prove someone is a horseman. She has also
learned that some people will do anything to win, regard-less of who it
hurts. She knows that those who will cheat in the show ring will also
cheat in every other aspect of their life and are not to be trusted.
Because my daughter grew up
with horses she has self-esteem and an engaging personality. She can
talk to anyone she meets with confidence, because she has to express
herself to her horse with more than words. She knows the satisfaction of
controlling and teaching a 1000 pound animal that will yield willingly
to her gentle touch and ignore the more forceful and i
nept handling of those
stronger than she is. She holds herself with poise and professionalism
in the company of those far older than herself.
Because my daughter grew up
with horses she has learned to plan ahead. She knows that choices made
today can effect what happens five years down the road. She knows that
you cannot care for and protect your investments without savings to fall
back on. She knows the value of land and buildings. And that caring for
your vehicle can mean the difference between easy travel or being
stranded on the side of the road with a four horse trailer on a hot day.
When I look at what she has
learned and what it will help her become, I can honestly say that I
haven't "wasted" a penny on providing her with horses. I only wish that
all children had the same opportunities to learn these lessons from
horses before setting out on the road to adulthood.
. 
, there were loads in the early 30's. 
had to pull him off it to step out - think he would have jumped it for fun though 
,
flew the last fences to home. It felt faster than normal so I was
hoping we would be inside the time, there wasn't a single problem with
the ground despite the weather and he had his ears forward the whole
time 
Called the secretary who said that they could move me to the end of the
section at 11.46 so I worked out that if we got back we probably had 5
minutes to unload, and load everything into the car/trailer we might
just be lucky enough to get there in time but there would be no time for
warm up or to walk xc. I decided I’d worry about that later!
