... but you can’t make it drink. They are big, powerful beasts, these creatures that I adore; big, powerful beasts with minds of their own. People who say racing is cruel don’t understand that: you can’t make a horse race if doesn’t want to. My sister has three ex-racehorses, one of which ran four times before it became obvious this was not the life for him. He has the breeding, but not the desire.
Similarly, you ‘ask’ a horse to do something, you don’t ‘tell’ them, because if they don’t want to, you can’t make them. My friend asked her new horse to stand still today. The horse reared vertical, overbalanced and fell over backwards. For one long, long moment, they were both rolling around on the ground. Horses can break their back and kill their rider when they do that. That rear came out of the blue; there was no warning. You can't legislate for something like that. The horse is going back from whence it came.
I, and everyone I know who rides, have had some crashing falls. I have jumped jumps without my mount, I have been dropped on top of post and rail fencing, I have been concussed, I have slammed flat on my back on the road, winded and shocked, so that when I managed to stand up, I vomited. I could go on …
The air ambulance visits these parts at least once a year. Whenever I see its collecting box on a shop counter, I put my change in. I see it as investing in my future.
My friend was lucky today: she escaped with bruises and got back on the horse. You have to. It’s a bit like life.
Similarly, you ‘ask’ a horse to do something, you don’t ‘tell’ them, because if they don’t want to, you can’t make them. My friend asked her new horse to stand still today. The horse reared vertical, overbalanced and fell over backwards. For one long, long moment, they were both rolling around on the ground. Horses can break their back and kill their rider when they do that. That rear came out of the blue; there was no warning. You can't legislate for something like that. The horse is going back from whence it came.
I, and everyone I know who rides, have had some crashing falls. I have jumped jumps without my mount, I have been dropped on top of post and rail fencing, I have been concussed, I have slammed flat on my back on the road, winded and shocked, so that when I managed to stand up, I vomited. I could go on …
The air ambulance visits these parts at least once a year. Whenever I see its collecting box on a shop counter, I put my change in. I see it as investing in my future.
My friend was lucky today: she escaped with bruises and got back on the horse. You have to. It’s a bit like life.
