Posted by seldomseen on November 19, 2007, at 10:30:36
For those of you that don't know, Andrew was all set to be my very first horse. On halloween he threw me and injured me quite badly. We were just in the middle of the process of "bonding" between horse and rider that is necessary for developing a good working relationship.
I'm off Andrew (doctor's orders) until the first of the year. I didn't know if I could ever even see him again. For the past times I've been at the stables, he was having shoe problems and couldn't be worked. I made no effort to go see him or even try to spend time with him. I just couldn't.
Well today when I arrived, my instructor had caught him and already had him in the barn. She's really an intuitive, good instructor. She knew I had to face him.
He came up to me and nuzzled me. I just started to cry. I mean just bawling my eyes out and I just held on to him and petted his eyes (horses love that) for a long time. He was very quiet - unusual for Andrew because he's got to be doing something all the time.
I know it upset Andrew that I was hurt (don't ask me how, but horses know), I know it upset him to see me on the ground not moving.
We've got a long way to go, and we've been set way back, but I think we came a long way today in forgiving each other for the harm we did to each other.
We worked a little while in the dressage arena, just doing "in hand" work (not on horseback). My instructor was by my side the whole time in case I freaked out (which I did with another horse last week). But I didn't. About half way through I quit crying and began to enjoy watching Andrew move again. He is just pure joy in motion.
I can't say for sure that I will ever be able to ride him again. But today we took the first step.
Seldom
poster:seldomseen
thread:795904
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20071026/msgs/795904.html