I read every book I could get my hands on about horses. I mooched horse time off my friends who had them, and stored away every minute like it was the rarest treasure. In my mid-teens I spent every moment I could out at one friend's house. They always had plenty of horses in various states of training and were kind enough to let me help. I'm pretty sure I've spent more time training horses from the ground than I have actually riding them.
I was never allowed to have one of my own. My parents couldn't afford it. As an adult I understand that much better. Horses are expensive. From the purchase price to either boarding fees or fencing and shelter, to vet bills, farrier fees and the cost of accumulating tack. It adds up. So I completely understand that I couldn't have a horse of my own.
Life happens, and as an adult I became busy with working and dating and playing video games in my spare time. My horse-craziness became a sort of forgotten thing, aside from longing looks into paddocks as I drove by. But it never quite went away.
Then I had kids, and got married, and discovered one of my children was Autistic. My children became my life. They still are, and always will be. The first few years after we realised what was 'wrong' with Noah were a struggle just to figure out how to get by.
But we worked it out, and I'd say we have a pretty good system now. Sean's in grade 1 and doing well. He's already reading chapter books, and has plenty of friends. Noah is in grade 3, and is doing a modified workload, but is doing his work at grade level in every subject but English and Social Studies. His reading comprehension is still pretty far behind. He's been fully toilet trained for over a year (he's 8 and a half years old now) and has started speaking conversationally. So the kids are doing well.
A few years ago I started thinking about getting us a family horse. I wanted my kids to grow up with one. But as I stated before, horses are expensive. So I thought about it in the back of my mind, and I waited. Derek doesn't care about having a horse either way. He did say it would be my responsibility to pay and care for any horse I got. Which I think is fair.
Then sometime in the last year or two I got the idea to get a Fjord horse. They're a large, sturdy pony, that generally have a sweet and calm temperament. They're technically pony-sized, but are large and strong enough to easily carry an adult. Having seen the attitude problems some ponies develop when children ride them, even as a teenager I'd always said if my future kids ever had a pony, it would have to be big enough for me to ride, if only for the occasional attitude adjustment. Also, Fjords are a Norwegian breed, and my husband's ancestry is strongly Norwegian, so I thought Derek would like that connection, and we could use it to educate our kids on their heritage.
So sometime this past fall, I decided that when I get the money saved, I'm going to buy a Norwegian Fjord pony. I wanted a gelding between 6 and 8 years old, so he would be old enough to have mellowed out from the teenage years, and I could trust him with the kids.
I know, I know. Where's this going, you ask. Bear with me. I've almost gotten to the point.
So my family went out to visit a cousin of mine and her family out on their farm, to introduce them to my brother- and sister-in-law who've recently moved here from back east. The farm had chickens, and goats, and horses.
So of course while I was interested in the chickens and goats, what I really wanted to do was go see the horses. There were four of them, and two were Fjords, so of course I paid special attention to them. The only one of those four horses that had any interest whatsoever in me was a 9-year-old gelding named Indy. While the other three shied away or just ignored me, he stood there, grazing on roots while I scratched him. He was a sweetie, and I was smitten. The horses all belonged to my cousin's in-laws, so I told my cousin in passing that if they ever wanted to sell him, to give me a call. She said they might actually be thinking of it, so I mentally calculated how much I could save up in three months to a year.
(I don't think I've mentioned this in my blog, but I've been back working part-time, self-employed as a mobile Massage Therapist for two years now. So I make my own money. It's not much, but it's nice contributing to the family funds.)
I didn't tell a soul this, but later that day, the best way I could have described it is that he felt like he was already mine.
Two days later I got a message from my cousin. She'd spoken to her father-in-law and he said I could have him. No cost.
I cried. (Hell, I'm crying right now just thinking about it.)
I found out later that how it happened is that her father-in-law came out to the farm, and out of the blue, said something along the lines of, "I'm just going to get rid of those two geldings.". (By 'get rid of' he meant 'sell at auction'.) Her response was, "Well, my cousin said she wanted him." And his was, "She can have him."
I got permission from my friend (who lives only minutes away from me) to board him at her house. I got permission from my husband to actually get him. It took me two weeks to arrange for a trailer to move him, and I spent those entire two weeks terrified the owner would change his mind.
But one of my brothers-in-law borrowed his dad's horse trailer and drove out with me to pick him up. I found out that he'd had a saddle on him and had a person on him while being led around, but he hadn't been handled in a while. It took some doing to get him in the trailer. He's stubborn. And strong. The owner was just happy to have someone who'd give him a good home and lots of attention. Both of which I am more than happy to provide.
Hopefully in a year he'll be trained enough to start therapeutic riding for Noah, but I'm planning on taking the training slow. I want Indy to work with me, and want to. That takes time and patience.
So, long story short, I now have a horse. More specifically, this one:
So now I'm in the process of acclimatising him to being handled on a regular basis before I start training him to ride. I've been out every day to catch him and brush him and handle his hooves.
He's a sweetie. Comes trotting up to the gate even from across the field when I call his name. He loves cookies. Keeps trying to pick my pockets. We're working on that. And he's getting along with the other three geldings where he's staying.
We have a lot of work ahead of us, but as far as I'm concerned, God sent me this horse. So it's going to work out fine.
The eight-year-old in me is screaming and crying and jumping up and down. I've waited so long for this. The day finally came.
Love,
-Nan
P.S. I'll probably be writing a lot more about Indy in the future. I'm still writing, working on my second book. (The first will never see the light of day. More on that later.)
