We have a guest blogger today. Here is her story-
I was 10 years old and earning my keep at a horse stable near my house. I had been helping out for about three months when a new horse arrived. The story was that this horse was a rescue. She was young, almost a year old, and she had been abused, beaten, yelled at, and mistreated her whole life. Her name was Sunfire and she was as mean as they come. It took us three weeks to get her comfortable enough to clean her stall with her in it and another four to be able to touch her just on the shoulders without her throwing a raging fit. She was huge and beautiful. The top of her back was over my head and she had a coat that glistened whether the sun was shining or not. Her black mane and tale stood out against her rust colored fur. She was as smooth as silk but as angry as I have ever seen. Being only ten, I didn’t like her. I was terrified of her and her of me. We would glare at each other and resisted any and all contact with each other.
One day the vet was coming over to take a look at her. Ever since she came to us, she had a limp and after working with her for four whole months we decided that she might be able to handle a vet taking a look at her. I was there in the arena, looking on from a distance. Suddenly I was called over and told that I was to ride her. Bare back. She had never been ridden since with us and everyone thought that my small frame would help her adjust without too much trauma. I didn’t want to ride Sunfire but the vet insisted that she may move differently with someone on her back and to properly diagnose the issue she would need a rider. You see, this limp Sunfire had was a mystery. X-rays, shots, massage, and different therapies had revealed nothing and not helped at all. She was finally given up and rescued because of this mysterious limp- her previous owner was properly dealt with by the way.
Anyway, I was to get on this angry beast. She was mad, so was I, she petrified, so was I, but all the same I was lifted atop her back and praying for my life. Rusty, the lead wrangler at the time, had a hold of her lead but she huffed, stomped, and squirmed so much I had to hold her mane with a death grip to stay on. The longer I sat on her the more irritated she got and more terrified I got. They had her walk in circles, limping the whole time, getting more and more mad. They had her trot and canter, still limping and still boiling angry. I was doing all I could to stay on her back. Her agitation, her angry breathing, and her choppy limping made it a chore just to keep from bouncing my brain silly.
Finally, she had had enough and she went crazy, jumping, huffing, and rearing up. I threw my arms around her neck, squeezing for dear life, and kept saying “it’s ok, it’s ok”. Suddenly she calmed down, her breathing slow and controlled. I sat up and starred at her along with everyone else. As soon as I let go of her neck, again she panicked, again I clung to her neck saying “it’s ok” over and over again. Again, she calmed down. This time I didn’t let go and just kept talking to her, saying anything I could think of, even singing to her. Again the vet had her walk, trot, and canter. This time though she held her head high and guess what. NO LIMP! It just disappeared. Just as mysteriously as it was there, it was mysteriously gone!
From that day on we were friends. Her eyes changed, I was the only one that she allowed to run my hand the length of her body and even down the back of her legs. She wouldn’t eat until I got there in the morning and I was the only one that could get a saddle on her.
I realized that even though we had cared for her diligently in those first four month she was with us, what she need more than that was a hug and to be told “it’s ok”. Later, she got to allow more and more people to touch her and handle her and she became one of the most caring and gentle horse I have ever been around and she never again had that limp.
She made me realize that horses are more like people than we realize and when you rescue a horse, you aren’t just helping an animal, you are rescuing a soul.
~Alex Witt~
Xandrepress
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