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It was nearly the end.

2K views 11 replies 10 participants last post by  DraftyAiresMum 
#1 ·
From the last couple of months I have really been struggling with keeping my passion for horses alive. I want to go to parties and hang out with my friends, but horses were stopping me doing that, they were stopping me having fun.

I told mum that I didn't want to ride next year, and she laid it straight on the line.
'You quit horses and we sell everything, and you can't go back to it untill your old enough to pay for everything' I agreed to these terms, because at the time I had a party to go to, and her talking was wasting time.

It wasn't untill yesterday when I attended what I thought would be my last show. I sat down on the bench after I had finished all my events. [4 forths and 1 first] and took a deep breath. I looked at the older girls competing at 1.15m and my attenion was then distracted by the giggling of the younger girls telling me to go play with them on the barrel horses.

Mum told me it was time to go, and tears started running down my face; Mum hugged me and said 'Ever since you were a young girl you have wanted to ride horses, that smile on your face is priceless when you ride, i've never seen you smile like that around your friends'

I never realised how much horses meant to me and how much I would miss going to ponyclub and mentoring the young girls, achieving my dreams and being naturally happy - I never knew what I had was this special, but untill that last second when I thought horses were over, I couldn't imagine my life without them.

Sorry I just needed to get my feelings out.
 
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#6 ·
Your mum is a very wise woman who knows you very well. You may, at times, get really irritated with her, but you should always remember her words and her wisdom that day.
 
#7 ·
I want to go to parties and hang out with my friends, but horses were stopping me doing that, they were stopping me having fun.
To me, horses ARE having fun. They don't keep me from having fun, they ARE the fun!

Friends come and go, but your horse will always be there to listen to you when you need a friend. :) They can be a stablizing factor in your life. When all else is chaos, the horse is always there as a shoulder to cry on. I feel that way about animals in general. They are a lot more dependable than people!
 
#9 · (Edited)
:cry:I agree with every single post! Until you have horses and have had to give them up you might not understand. When I got married and moved out of state (military hubby) I missed my horses so much I daydreamed that my parents showed up with truck trailor and horse. It never happened of course but when I would go home to visit for that first year, the first thing i did was ride, one time it was like around 12:00 at night. I would have dreams that i would get a horse saddled and ready to ride but in my dreams I never got to ride and sometimes I would wake up in tears and very frustrated. When I got my last two horses, the dreams stopped. Horses got sold after a year or so because my sister wasn;t intothem as much as I was. Then when I got another horse I was 32, I had her for about 10 years before she went to horsey heaven. Then when I was 49 I got my 4 yr old qh gelding. That was 2 1/2 years ago and my hubby just got a horse in June. That is all I have ever wanted and even now that I have less energy they actually give me energy. Never intended this post to be so long....it just came out..sorry. Horses are a part of me and always will be...they and my dogs kind of define me

Anyways you are so lucky to have a mother that supports you and am happy you realized what really is important!! My kids used to ride my mare,but never developed the interest as I had hoped at least one of them would. You DID make the right desicion!
 
#11 ·
I know plenty of people who balance horses and a social life. It can be done.

But I loved your post. And am glad that you realized that you love horses, and your mom is supportive. My mother wants me to leave riding, even though I love it, because it is expensive. She doesn't pay a dime. She would never go through the trouble your mom did to show her support. I am jealous of you for for having a mother like that.
 
#12 ·
I have wanted a horse since I was three and watched "Man From Snowy River" for the first time. My dad is severely allergic to horses, so I was never allowed to have one (he did try to get all four of us kids each a horse once, but he went about it totally wrong...went to an auction and wound up coming home with four feral arabs [three mares and a nasty stallion] who had never been handled...he paid $50 a piece for them...we ended up giving them to a friend of the family who trained racehorses), plus they didn't want to pay for something that they thought was "just a phase." So, I soaked up everything horse I could. I'm not big into the sappy horse stories like Flicka and all that, but I read EVERY horse book I could get my hands on, fiction or non-fiction. Any time I could ride a horse, I did (had some friends with horses who would let me ride occasionally).

When I was in high school, my dad (who was a real estate broker) got this guy a smokin' deal on an excellent piece of horse property in our town. The guy bred and trained racing QHs and his wife gave hunter lessons. As a thank you for helping him so much, the guy offered to give me lessons for free in any discipline I wanted. I had to decline because I had too much going on (soccer, band, church stuff, working part time). You have no idea how much I wish I would have said YES to those lessons. Not a day goes by that I don't regret saying no.

Now, this may seem like I was just rambling on, but I really do have a point to all this. Coming from a non-horse background with parents who were not at all supportive of the passion I had, I envy you for having a mother who is willing to support you and to give you guidance in sticking with it. I can promise you that you won't regret sticking with horses, as I regret saying no to those lessons. As someone said, friends come and go. Those parties that you and your friends want to go to right now may not be as much fun once you get there and see all the things going on. I know they weren't for me.

Good on you for realizing how precious and important those moments on horseback are. They really are irreplaceable.
 
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