01/26/2023
Recipe for raising a “horse girl”…….
You bring them home from the hospital and instead of keeping them home you let them breathe in the smell of horses every chance you get….
Then at a few months old you prop them up in the saddle and hold them there to just sit in the saddle….
When they are 3 they say they can’t pick up the horse’s hoof …you help them but then tell them they need to finish themselves…..
You let them lead the 23 yr old faithful gelding because leading the big horse makes them feel so proud….
At 4 yrs old you teach them that the horse depends on them for water, hay, grain….Dinner might be almost ready in the house, but ponies eat first …..
At 5 years old, when she falls off for the first time, you check to make sure nothings broken, wipe her tears, then you give her a leg up and tell her to get it done, because you KNOW she’s a great rider…..
At 10 years old when she doesn’t place in her class at the horse show and she’s falling apart, you ask her if her horse worked hard for her, and then you tell her that to her horse she is #1, and to keep riding, because her horse depends on her……
At 12 years old she comes home from school and tells you another kid said something mean at school to someone she knows. She then tells you she told that kid to shut their mouth and keep it to themselves…. Then she walked off with the kid that was being made fun of……
At 13 years old her friends at the barn are as close as siblings……they support her in her wins and her falls…..the barn has created relationships that are thicker than blood….
At 15 years old her first “boyfriend” breaks up with her ….. you can tell she is upset so you both head to the barn. She wraps her arms around her horse’s neck, breathes him in, and the tears flow. But you can see that resolve emerge when she’s cantering around the ring…. She tells you her horse is better than that boy any day.
You heard others say over the years…..
“Horses are too expensive!”
“She’s going to get sick from all the germs.”
“She’s going to fall off and get hurt.”
“She spends too much time at the barn.”
When she is a young woman and leaves your home, off on her next adventure, you head out to the barn. You thank her horses, you breathe them in, you wrap your arms around them because ….
Horses helped you to create a confident, self-assured, responsible, kind, nurturing, outdoors-loving, tough as nails, throws her shoulders back and stands tall, strong woman.
To all the parents raising “horse girls” keep going, you are giving them more than just riding lessons…..
By Kara LaBrie Fitch
