Personal Narrative: The Lesson Horse

The Lesson Horse
From the perspective of a rider, the thought of being able to connect with an animal much larger and stronger than most of us is exhilarating. The look of absolute trust that can be seen in a horse's eye cannot even be put into words, and at that point you know that they will do anything they can to please their rider. Not everyone can share the same trust in an animal that has its own opinions, but the bond between a horse and its rider is virtually unbreakable. Horses are able to teach their riders lessons that no typical teacher could teach. These lessons carry over a lifetime. It is hard to find a better teacher than one of which cannot even speak. One of the most important lessons I could have ever learned came from a …show more content…
It became very apparent that the mare had major anxiety issues. She shook as if the very ground beneath her moved. My trainer had suggested lunging her in the arena before riding. I would not lunge her for the first time, and it became very apparent why. My trainer walked the mare to the center of the oval shaped arena. My trainer slowly let out the lunge line, allowing the mare to walk out in a circle. I stood next to my trainer when she had signaled the mare to move at a faster pace. Immediately the mare charged forward and became a flying gray blur. She looked like a rolling thunder cloud in a fast-moving storm. The flying mare had left my head spinning like a top. The mare tugged on the line, and nearly pulled it out of my trainers’ hand. To stop the gray blur, my trainer pulled hard on the line causing the mare to stumble slightly. The amount of pure energy that this mare held, took my breath …show more content…
A technique called “round pining”. This put me much closer to the mare than the lunge line, but would allow a freedom of motion that a lunge line could not provide. Majority of the time a lunge whip would be used to control the horse, but I had chosen to use her lead line. I believed she would not need the harsher form of reinforcement. As expected the mare would take off flying around the small pin. It felt terrifying to have a horse moving around me like she did. She would often move off of the side of the pin, and come closer to me which prompted me to swing the lead line towards her. I knew she could sense the tension in me, but I would continue to press ahead knowing that I could not give up on