Be glad you’re not an old horse

One of my favorite summer activities is having my grandchildren visit. Each has different interests and therefore different requests for activities. Recently, the chosen fun was horseback riding.

The show-up time was 9:45; I signed the form stating that any injury inflicted while riding their horses was entirely my fault. We were assigned horses. My granddaughter’s was Rocky, my grandson’s was Sox, and mine was Grasshopper. (Yes, the grandkids laughed) After directions and getting hoisted to the top of the saddle, we were off.

Our guide was Cody and he did a great job of entertaining us with information about the horses, the stable business, and how much food the horses ate daily.

As we plodded along steep rocky paths, I felt grateful to be a human and not a horse. They were not allowed to eat grass or drink water until we returned to the stables. They had idiots, like me, on their backs, and they walked the course, following one of their buddies, several times a day, seven days a week. They peed and pooped when they wanted, and other than that, they were controlled and used for the pleasure or profit of someone else.

In the stables, each horse stood with his/her head down, and each had little movement except to keep the flies from biting. They seemed to know what their future held and it didn’t look too bright.

I know people who live similarly to these horses, and my message to them is run – run like a deer. Get out before the nose band and throat latch are buckled. Whether it is a relationship or job, we all deserve more value than being controlled and used. Like the horses, we can find ourselves in situations where it seems like it is too late or we have no options, but that is not true.

I imagined Grasshopper, in his younger years, standing up on his hind legs, showing his authority, letting Sox know he was tired of following him around, and being assertive enough to get replaced, demoted, or promoted. I wanted the same for Rocky, Sox, Big Jake, Tomater, etc.

Truth: those horses have no options, but people do!

Until the next time: Live while you live!