In recent years I have had the good fortune of seeing a life-long dream come to fruition. For years I dreamed of having my own horse, but life happens, and being a working mom with two beautiful children, time and money did not allow for me to pursue such a personal pleasure. So, as many of us do, I put my dream on hold. Now the children are all grown up and making a life of their own. I still work but time has become more available and so I decided to stop dreaming and start working on making my dream a reality.
Five years ago I took my first step in the world of equine and signed up for riding lessons at a local stable. Oh, did I forget to mention I knew nothing about horses (LOL). Well, I didn’t but I did know that I wanted to learn. I remember the very first time I went out for my lesson. I was so nervous yet so excited! And I was “HOOKED”. One lesson… one hour and a bit with that horse – Billy was his name – and I knew there was no going back! I know I drove home that night with a huge smile on my face, and I was still smiling when I went to bed. As a matter of fact, I was still smiling when I woke up the next morning (and I’m smiling right now as I write this).
It was quite amazing how quickly and naturally I became comfortable around horses. Billy was a wonderful quiet 15 year old grey gelding, and so very sweet. Loved his groomings, and had a good sound mind which helped in building my confidence. I also had the help of a great coach who was very patient in teaching me how to act / react around horses and most importantly, how to ride. By the way, she is still a great help and teacher when ever I need help with something, and for that I am very grateful.
Two years or so went by with me taking lessons once a week. I so looked forward to Monday nights and trust me when I say that I was not prepared to miss a lesson for anything! Every lesson night would mean me smiling for hours afterwards, until the night my coach took me aside and advised me that she was selling her school horses as she just didn’t have enough time with work and kids and horses and so on. I was devastated! I thought I may have to give up riding as there are not many facilities around with school horses! There were no smiles on my face that night, but I must admit, there were a few tears in my eyes.
Now they say “everything happens for a reason”… there was this beautiful black mare at the barn who my coach had taken in as a favour for someone who was not able to care for her anymore (bet you know where this story is going don’t ya). This 4 year old mare had caught my eye from the day she moved in. I inquired about her a couple of times in the beginning, but each time my coach would advise against it, and rightfully so; she was much too high strong and I was much too green deal with a newly broke horse with a “BIG” personality. So I just spent some time with her and groomed her whenever I could.
Well, you guessed it… 
the beautiful black mare is mine now. Faith looked upon me and in time, I was offered to buy her. So I tried her out for a while before making my decision, to make sure that she was the right fit, and so, a few days before my 45th birthday, my dream came true… I NOW RIDE MY VERY OWN HORSE! It has been almost three years now and we have had many rides, some great, some not so great, but that’s another story we’ll get into another day.
So don’t ever give up on your dream…
you never know when faith will look upon you 
