I am an equestrian. I work my butt off at the barn to let my horses have a clean place to live. I have feed up to forty horses at once, cleaned stalls, picked up poop in the arenas, fixed fences, carried water buckets, stacked hay, carried 50 pound bags of feed, cleaned brushes, cleaned tack, cared for wounds, bathed and groomed horses, and help educate new riders.
I also spend hours grooming my horses, giving them treats, playing with them, and exercising them every week. I have missed parties, get togethers, and other events I would have liked to go to just so I could be with horses. I have woken up at five thirty in the morning on Sundays to go to horse shows -- I am not a morning person.
I have literally given them my blood, sweat, and tears. I have been bitten, kicked, stepped on, fallen from five feet in the air at fifteen miles-per-hour, bruised, scratched, bleed, and fell with my horse landing on top of me. I have gotten cover in mud, soaked in the rain, and frozen in the snow. My back and shoulders ache from throwing hay and lifting saddles above my head. My knees creak and ache from countless hours of being bent in the saddle.
My car is covered in mud, inside and out, and smells more like a horse than some horses I know because I have my barn jackets and boots in the back.
The hard work I put into my horses and their home is all so I can experience the magic I feel around them. They allow me to fly over the ground and soar in the air. They take me over jumps that are two and a half feet high while going fifteen miles-per-hour. They have so much power in their legs that I can feel moving up from their hoof pounding the ground all the way up to the top of my head. My horse and I are unstoppable if we set our mind to the same thing. They show me more love than most humans. My heart melts every time my horses look at me longingly and walk to me in the field, and my heart breaks every time I put them back and they want to stay with me. Horses are more than an animal to me. They are my best friends. We trust each other with our lives. They trust me to not kill them, and I trust them to place their feet in the right place.
I am an equestrian. I will do whatever I can so my horses live long, happy, and healthy lives. All I want in return is to get a smidgen of that magic they possess. The magic that allows me to feel sane. It allows me to deal with all the stress outside of the barn. It allows me to deal the the stress from inside the barn.
Horses have taken over my life, and I wouldn't want it any other way. I've given horses my heart, and they have given me theirs.