Silver Lining

One of my goals was to put my horse on a training program and complete it. I definantly did just that. I went to the barn 5-7 days a week and worked my butt off (as my poor mother who had to drive me there, stay there, and then bring me home will testify to.) Even though it isn’technically “school work” I really learned a lot. I learned that animals don’t care what kind of day you had, you have to control you temper and frustrations because trying to get a 1400 pound animal to do what you want with a bad attitude doesn’t work. They can make a bad day worse or totally turn it arround. Training my horse taught me about commitment. This winter it was way below freezing, and sometimes 5-10 degrees. I still had to go to the barn in the dark, check on the horse, warm her up really well, then cool her down, blanket her, and bring her water.

I taught her to jump up and down banks, jump into water (when the weather warmed up) and how to jump in a small arena. She had never done any of this before. I call her the Evil Pony (along with everyone else in the barn) because if she doesn’t respect you she will buck, kick, take off, run out of jumps, or flat out refuse to move at all. Trying to MAKE 1400 lbs of thick skinned attitude move will teach you the meaning of WORK.

I experienced moments of extreme frustration as well as those of triumph. My training program took me all the way to my first show, and I’m now taking it to the next level in hopes of having a succesfull showing career with my little mare =) Even though it was tough, the lessons I learned from Amaretto (my horse) will definately stick with me. This was a tough but rewarding personal curriculum.