Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4 (NIV)
I could see it in her eyes as she walked towards us. That glazed over stare totally focused on the object of her attraction. She was hooked, completely smitten. As she asked how much, I had great sympathy for her. I knew what her problem was because I was once her. My friend, Andrea, and I had just unloaded our horses from the trailer and were getting ready for the Little Manatee State Park Annual Poker Ride. (A poker ride is when you follow a course and look for buckets that contain sealed envelopes enclosing playing cards. After collecting six cards at six different stops, you return the cards still in their sealed envelopes to be tallied. Highest hand wins the game.) Seeing the For Sale sign on Andrea’s trailer, this woman approached her to ask her the price. In a timid, but determined voice, she told us her story. She didn’t have a horse of her own yet, but as soon as she saved enough money she would be getting one. She just joined the riding club so she could meet some horse people and learn about places to ride in our area. She still had to buy a saddle and a trailer, too. And find a place to keep her horse once she saved enough to buy one. She had always wanted a horse, but circumstances prevented her before now. Mostly it was an issue of health insurance. She knew before she started riding, she had better have some health insurance. For many years, she could not afford it, but just reached the age of Medicare. Now, with health insurance, she could realize her dream. Once she saved enough to buy a horse. She admired ours, rubbed their noses and murmured some affectionate words. Then, she was gone. Andrea and I exchanged glances. Oh, how we understood the longing. And oh, how we are so blessed to have our dreams reality. But, then, I wondered. She knew enough that she might get hurt, but should I warn her of the other problems? The steep vet bills. The rising cost of hay and grain. The mornings when you drag yourself out of deep sleep to play rancher before going to your real job behind a computer in an office with no windows. The nights when you get home so tired, but you can’t sit down until the horses have dinner. Shoveling manure. The worries over whether there will be enough grass to get through the winter. The question of when to call the horse dentist. Finding someone to horse sit so you can go out of town. Shoving wormer down the throat of a horse who hates medicine. Wondering if you can trust your farrier to take proper care of your horse’s feet. Should we punch a hole in her dream? Then, later, cantering down a long open gap between tall trees, pure happiness at the freedom and thrill, I thought, “Nah, let her dream. It’s worth it all.”
I never had that horse dream thing going but now that I am older I see the attraction. I am very fond of horses and here you tell me there is such a thing as a Poker Ride- that sounds like the best of both worlds.
I think perhaps your horse is blessed to have you. Animals are blessed, you know. Oh! I made it out of Chicago in one piece-tada! back in Florida tonight. Oh! If you and Miz S were pregnant at the same time then you and I were pregnant at the same time. 🙂
When you realize your dream and your passion those other things are just bumps in the road 😉
I always wanted a horse when I was a young girl. I read EVERY horse story our library contained, my all time favorite being Black Stallion. One time my father said to my mother, “I’ve gotta go see a man about a horse.” I heard him – and then he disappeared into the bathroom. when he came out, I asked him if I could go when he went to look at a horse. Of course, the joke was one me, because that was a lame phrase for having to go to the bathroom. Sheesh. I still laugh when I think about that. Since I’d always loved horses, my daughter and I decided to go horse-back riding at a local place where it was $35.00/hour. I figured I’d splurge for once in my life. It was the FUNNIEST experience EVER. My horse didn’t want to walk anywhere – he wanted to stand still and munch on plants. If I tried to make him move, he swung his head back to bite my feet. I laughed so hard, I thought I’d fall off. Meanwhile, my daughter’s horse would move sporadically – and only then would my horse follow him. Both of us were sick from laughing so hard – even though it didn’t turn out to be much of a horse back riding experience, it was – and is – a GREAT memory.
There is a park that borders on a horse farm here and I used to go and bring apple pieces and carrots and feed the horses. That was fun. They’d nudge my clothes and push me with their nose. I knew to hold my hand quite flat so as not to get bit. I’m sure I shouldn’t have been feeding someone else’s animals, but I did love it so.
My daughter loves horses. I used to take her riding, but to own one was never in the realm of possibility for us.
When she came back to Bradenton to live, on Saturdays she would go out to a barn where a client of my husband had a couple of horses. She would go out and help clean out their stalls and tend to them just to be around the horses.