Happy August Lists - Question 2

Question Two: Your First Love

As long as I can remember I have been in love with horses.  I love everything about them.  My Mother always said my first word was pony and I started galloping about when I was 2 years old.

When I was very little and my Mother was chatting with an expected Mom, she would ask "what are you hoping for?"  I always thought that meant you could pick - so I always said when I get old enough I am having a pony.  Adults would chuckle but I was very serious.  Now that I know about having babies I am SO glad we don't give birth to ponies - can you imagine the stretch marks!  

 My first horse was a skinny but flashy chestnut thoroughbred gelding called Tristram Shandy. And like many one sided love affairs, he broke my heart.  When I purchased him, he had only just been backed and started and I was a very young and an inexperienced rider.  Tristram was too much for me and I had no on sight coaching or trainer, so after two very frustrating years of a literal on and off relationship, I traded him for an older school master horse, Merlyn The Wizard.  While Merilyn was a much better fit for me, I still cried for the flashy handsome Tristram.  

I did learn lots from that first love affair.  I learned my limitations, which set my path on to riding lessons and coaching with a certified trainer along with some agricultural courses for equine diet needs.

I have had relationships/ownership not only with Tristram and Merilyn but Cherri Brandy, Lystra and Joshua.  There have also been those flirty short term relationships of part boarding and leasing.

Although I do not currently own or lease a horse, I continue my love affair with horses mostly by supporting friends through their mad love affairs.  

The heart wants what the heart wants.

diagrams of Thelwell Ponies From The Internet