Joy with a great friend...

I got a FB message from Jess today. She could come out. And she could ride. (If I said that I had one of those excited trills carouse thru my body, it would be quite true.)

It's been so long since she has been here that she had not met Poppi nor Izzy. Ummm serious time had passed. Jess is the best horse friend a person can have. She is fun (perhaps slightly crazy- does she feel pain??) and a fantastic instructor. I am ripe for instruction...and selfish in being very excited that Jess was going to be here. Plus, she is a busy grad student and gets the schedule thing. To say that Jess is busy is really quite the understatement.

Jess meeting the older Wrainthur

But back to instruction. Jess makes me work hard- and the horse work hard, too. Yet, somehow you finish feeling so...excited about everything. I always finish on the verge of tears. I realize that sounds silly, but I do- because I am so grateful.   So, I put Jess on Tahoe and I rode Wrainthur. I really wanted to see Tahoe go, and I wanted to see what Wrainthur would do.






And above is Jess on Tahoe in the indoor. He was really good- not sure if you can see the smile on Jess' face, but it's there!

We finished up the day by riding the boys around the farm on the trails, and was lucky enough that Art wanted to play with his camera.  The horses did not really want to oblige by keeping their ears up, but that's okay!

Jess meeting the older Reason

What I remembered is this: I love horses. I love them in the same way I did when I was 8 years old, galloping around on the end of a dog leash with some "trainer" asking me for a canter and pretending to buck. The same way I would play with my Golden and pretend she was an amazing jumper and train her in our yard to jump crazy things. The same way I tended to my breyer horses. It's the exact same love I had then as I do know. I love everything about them.

And what I know is this: They remain and will remain a part of my life forever. Because they are as much of me as I am of me.