I hear people talk about their "heart horse" all of the time. And here's why I don't believe in having a single "heart horse". Since it's Valentine's Day this week I thought I'd talk about how I feel about this term, and some horses that were very special to me.
I've owned and had the opportunity to ride so many amazing horses in my lifetime. I've grown up with them, and I've gotten to work at trainers facilities and ride their animals and learn from them. Maybe because I've had the fortune to come into contact with so many amazing horses that makes me hesitant to claim a single one as special above the rest.
I'm sure people will say that I just haven't had a special bond with one yet after reading this. But I have.
I'm not saying that some don't touch your soul more than others or that some don't rise above. But throughout my life there are multiple ones that have touched my life in a way that profoundly changed me. I wouldn't want to say any of them was more important than the other because they all came to me in the time I needed them and left with me a lesson that I needed to learn.
First, there was Foxy. My very first pony who taught me how to ride. And get back on after being thrown off. I had her for 12 years after my grandpa rescued her. She was nearly starved to death and her feet were like sleds. I fell in love at first sight, and she's buried in the back pasture at my childhood home.
When I outgrew her, I was loaned a horse named Velvet. He looked exactly like Black Beauty. I loved this horse, and when he was taken from me because of the pettiness of adults I cried myself to sleep for nights. When he came back almost dead covered in ticks and wounds with splits in his hooves nearly to the coronary band, I spent hours removing every tick, tending every cut, and sleeping in his stall to make sure he was okay.
Then the first horse I owned. A golden mare named Sundance who was as fast as the wind and I really learned how to compete with. A mare who taught me that if I just asked she would deliver.
Then there was Hustler, the first colt I started from untouched to riding. Lark, my Rugged Lark grandson who taught me about how pedigree can dictate the ease of training.
And we can't forget about all the horses I jump rode like Ozzy, Cowboy, Twister, Thriller, Sugar, and more. We also can't forget about Tango who threw me off every few days and took all of my money for vets and lameness exams and farriers and body workers only to end up being a broodmare for a stock contractor. Or Alex the OTTB that I learned how to jump on. Polly, the palomino mare, I got from a horse trader that ended up being amazing.
Not to mention PopTart, who brought me back into horses and rebuilt me after years of living in shadows. Plus JJ who stole my heart and lived out his remaining years here. Or Pep with her kind eye that tells a story of a horse who wants to trust again after abuse. Bash who gave me hope. Disco who loves so hard.
There are just too many horses. There is so much love for all of them that I can barely hold back my tears as I write this because I wish that I could have kept them all, and that I know the ones currently with me will be here until their end because of all the ones I had to let go in my old life.
Anyway, that's why I can't say there is a single heart horse. To me they're all my heart horse. Every single one.
