We’re smack in the middle of winter with its driving rain, icy cold, and short days. As I’ve thought about writing this month’s editorial, with a focus on the equestrian lifestyle, it’s easy to find myself a wee bit sarcastic about the whole scene.
Each day I pull on my tall mud boots, layers of warm clothes and head out to the barn to shovel rain-soaked manure and push the wheelbarrow through soggy ground. Yesterday was so windy that when I fed hay most of it blew right back into my face and down my shirt. The horses are wild, wooly, and full of you-know-what just when I’d really like to sit by the fire with a good book. Humph, the equestrian lifestyle indeed!
And don’t get me started on some of the other aspects of horsedom: like heartbreak and missed dreams; like losing a horse at the height of its career; like working all winter trying to move up a level in your riding only to be thwarted by a lame or sick horse. Or falling off, getting hurt, and dealing with fear.
But I’m preaching to the choir here. Most of you understand the equestrian lifestyle is not for those who like to stay clean and comfortable. Or for the weak hearted. We know horses are horses, and they break easily and get sick, bolt and buck, and we have to let go of our egos and keep learning and sometimes just take care of them.
So why do we do it? Because, well, the horses! We love them enough to wade through waist-deep snow in gale-force wind with buckets of hot water multiple times a day to make sure they’re drinking. We’ll do that and much, much more. Because even in the heavy rain this morning I heard songbirds singing in the trees while I mucked paddocks, and because of how they nicker when we slide open the barn door.
The rewards, when they come, are incomparable. Perhaps because they are so hard to achieve. When things go right with horses our hearts are mended and our pain is eased. When everything in the riding comes together, like the perfect canter that comes from nothing more than a thought, an easy whoa from an exhalation, or your horse carries you safely down a steep incline in the mountains, you wouldn’t trade the equestrian lifestyle for anything.
The earth will soon warm, the grass will grow, and the trails will dry, and our beloved horses will deliver us somewhere beautiful with their generous hearts. kim@nwhorsesource.com
Kim Roe grew up riding on the family ranch and competed in Western rail classes, trail horse, reining, working cow, and hunter/jumper. She trained her first horse for money at 12 years old, starting a pony for a neighbor.
Kim has been a professional dressage instructor in Washington state for over 30 years, training hundreds of horses and students through the levels. In recent years Kim has become involved in Working Equitation and is a small ‘r’ Working Equitation judge with WE United.
Kim is the editor of the Northwest Horse Source Magazine, and also a writer, photographer, and poet. She owns and manages Blue Gate Farm in Deming, Washington where she continues to be passionate about helping horses and riders in many disciplines.