For The Love of A Horse

At about 9:30 tonight it started pouring down rain, so my first thought was to run outside and grab my little girl from the pasture and put her in her nice DRY stall.

I grab my raincoat off the hook and walk downstairs to put my boots on and grab her halter, leadline, and a treat. It's pitch black out and I only get an outline of my surroundings when a flash of lightning brightens the sky. I can see Lilly and I know she's seen my when she starts immediately heading towards the pasture's gate.

As I get closer, she calls to me. A soft whinny, as if she's saying "Mom! 'Bout time you got here." I call out her nickname in response. It's our tradition.

When I get to the gate she steps back to let me in and lowers her head for the halter. The trust I have in my horse is incrediable as I lead her in complete darkness towards her stall. She follows quietly behind with impecable manners, happy to be getting out of the rain.

I lead her into her dark stall and steps in without hesitation and turns her head to face me; lowering it once again and allowing me to slip the halter off. Reaching into my pocket I brandish the treat which she gratefully eats from my hand.

Its moments like this that I cherish with her as I lean against her shoulder and begin to rub and scratch her all over. Her head comes to rest over my shoulder and we're completely still. I close my eyes as I focus on the sounds around me: the pinging of the rain against the rin roof, her soft breathing, and the sound of her licking her lips every so often.

Thirty minutes and a half asleep horse-child later and I'm letting myself out of her stall and shutting it behind me. She seems to wake up then as her head jerks up and she lets out another neigh, asking me to stay with her.

"Bye, Lilly Bear!" I call over my shoulder to her.

Sometimes I wish I could spend every moment like that. Horses give me such a peace of mind.

Happy Anniversary, Lilly!

Today marks year number three that I've been able to call my beautiful horse-child, Lilly, my own. Time seems to fly when you're a mom. Lol. It seems as if she's still the five-year-old I got her as but she's not. She's grown up a lot and for that, I'm thankful. So, in honor of our anniversary, I figured I'd tell the story of how Lily and I first met.

We met a little over three years ago, during the summer, when I showed up to a barn to start taking riding lessons again (I had ridden here a couple of times before I went to a different barn, where I consequently fractured my hip, so I decided to come back to this barn ha ha). My mom had driven me there and together we got out of the car and began walking towards the barn. And there was my mare, sticking her beautiful head out of her stall and peering around at us. I remember pointing at her and telling my mom how beautiful she was. 

One of the first pictures of Lilly. She obviously didn't want her pic taken. Haha

When we got down the the arena, which was on the other side of the barn, I met up with the barn owner and head instructor, Keri. She then introduced me to her new assistant, a young woman named Amy, who was going to help me get out a horse and tack up. She then turned to Amy and told her to get out a horse named Macy but to lunge her before we tacked up. Keri informed me that Macy was a client's horse but that the boy who owned her had recently fallen off and didn't want anything to do with her any more.

I started following Amy back through the barn and you can imagine my surprise when we stopped in front of the horse who I'd been admiring's stall. This was too good to be true and I could feel my efficient building already. We pulled her out of the stall and I brushed her down as Amy got a lunge line and whip. We walked her down to the arena and Keri addressed us.

"Now there are a few things you need to know about Macy. First off, she is still in training and the second is that she is still a little young and feisty. Which is why I'm having you lunge her first."

I watched as Amy walked her into the arena and found a corner to lunge her in. Lilly began trotting a slow circle around her so Amy kissed and asked her to pick up a canter and my mare exploded. All four hooves were off the ground and she was bucking and tossing her head. The sudden outburst had surprised Amy and the lunge line slipped out of Amy's hand. Off she went, tearing through the arena at break neck speeds, bucking and snorting the whole time.

It took us several minutes and just as many attempts to finally catch her and Keri took the lunge line and worked her until she calmed down and had burned off some energy. 10 minutes after that and I was walking a fully tacked Lilly back to the arena to start my actual lesson.

It was love at first ride the second I got on her back. She responded to all my aids and I felt so in tuned with her, like I could get her to do anything. The lesson ended up going so well that Keri informed me that we worked so well together that next week when I returned for another lesson, I would be riding her again. A week never seemed so far away!

Okay, despite my face, I was really happy to be with Lilly.

So there's my first meeting with my (now) horse. Yes, I know she's a handful lol but Keri had seen me ride before so she knew my skill level. Oh, and no horses or humans were hurt during the occurrence of these events!

Nina and Lilly

My First Post

Nina and Lilly

First off, I want to start by introducing myself and my horse child. I'm 19 years old my name is Nina. I've been riding horse since I was four years old. The love of my life is my eight year old mare, Lilly Ann. Tomorrow will be the three year anniversary, and what a interesting three years it has been. She is a complete handful but I wouldn't trade her for the world : ) I currently work for the same barn I bought her from and I'm a stable hand/riding instructor, so there will probably be plenty of stories about that. And to end my first post, I will add a picture of us : )