One of my earliest memories was riding double with my mom, with my hands griping her belt as we rode up a steep hill. Another memory is when I turned five I was permitted to ride by myself on the horse (I got to control it instead of riding double). I remember the first ride alone, it was a trail ride. My folks had given me strict instructions not to talk to anyone! I remember some lady, who must have known me asked how I was doing and I wouldn't answer her!
Looking back I'm a little mortified that my parents allowed me to ride as the soul rider of the horse when I was five!
My parents owned a "horse rental stable" or to those in the biz a "dude string." Now how we ended up there is not important right now. What is important to note is that we needed horses, cheap, lots of them and gentle. We visited countless back yards, ranches and even the kill pens to find them.
My father never felt he was that good with horses. Sure he could ride them and was damn good, he was an old guy when he came to own horses. As my folks liked to say, they didn't bounce so good anymore. My dad also said that it took seven horses to get a good one, because he didn't have the stamina or knowledge to "gentle" them. Now I can't say what happened to the ones we didn't keep, I know we sold them to homes but some went to the kill pens or "killers" as we called them. I shudder at the thought, and I like to think we rescued more than we ever sent. (Perhaps I shall tell some of our rescues stories here later)
I don't think my folks ever wanted to send horses to the killers, I guess they felt they didn't have a choice when they did. Thus I was sent to camps and clinics where I, who was a little more bouncy, could learn how to train in a gentle way. My dad wanted me to be able to take ANY horse and make it into a solid citizen that could be ridden on the trail.
While it cannot be forgiven that my family did send horses to slaughter, and I have to live with the memory of that. What I can do now is try to stop the slaughter and rehabilitate the lost souls that have been abused and neglected.
On a personal level when I have not had time to work on stopping horse slaughter I have donated money to agencies that protected horses or horse rescue.
There are several horse rescue facilities near me, I have looked in to volunteering at them, but my work schedule never allowed me actual time to do this. However with recent changes, I am once again looking into volunteering.
While one on one a horse is not helpless and is not a pet, event the smallest horse can put YOU in a world of hurt. Its when we humans suck them into the machine of corporate greed that they become helpless. We need to give them a voice!
I do currently own a horse, her name is Fionnabhair "Fin" for short. She is a BLM adopted mustang. While I did not adopt her from the BLM I did get her from some people who wanted to use her as a brood mare to make mules. I think she had other ideas about this, since she never got pregnant and that is why she was sold. The people I bought her from got her from a woman who was hard on her luck and traded her for an undisclosed amount of bags of dog food!
Again, welcome to the blog! And than you for sharing this.
ReplyDeleteYou know I understand about having family that sold horses to slaughter. I think it was something people didn't even think about...well, except for my brother who thought it was funny, apparently. And so we'll be the ones to make sure that people do think about it and that it ends. For all of them.
My father never thought he was good with horses either. He grew up working with draft horses, under his grandfather's guidance and from what he said his grandfather was an amazing horseman. Then he was an adult when he finally got back to hem. But myself and others remember him as being really good with them. But sometimes I think to be good you always have to think you could be better.
And, indeed, please do share rescue stories. I'm glad to have you here. ~:)
And Fin is gorgeous as ever!
Thank you for sharing your introduction. It's interesting how we all find our way to have the horses central in our lives. All of these different backgrounds and yet we are all honoring horses as sacred. And doing what we can to protect and honor them.
ReplyDeleteFin is absolutely gorgeous!