Riding Lessons - Going Home

Tonight, Kyle and I started our riding lessons. It was amazing to be back on a horse again! I have been assigned to Picasso, a rehabilitated race horse who is owned by a 70 year old woman and her husband. She allows Anna, our instructor, to use Picasso for lessons. He is a big, beautiful bay who had a lopsided face and a crooked spine, hence his name. Neither of these affect the way he rides though, he has a beautiful gait. His personality is amazing too. He is very patient and calm and very alert and aware of what is happening around him. I can tell that he is incredibly intelligent. Yes...another horse I am in love with...but I don't think that takes long to happen for me. I have been in love with many horses in my life.

Kyle did so well for his first lesson. He was so patient and really trying...I was so excited and happy to see him enjoying himself and learning about something I love so much.

I heard a quote once that said that a horse was a projection of peoples dreams about themselves and they have the capability of giving us an escape from our mundane existence. I feel so amazing when I am on a horse. When I am just in my daily life, I feel ungainly, uncoordinated and not pretty most of the time. On a horse, I feel comfortable, graceful, beautiful and at peace working with this massive animal. I feel like I can communicate with them without talking and the horse not only perfectly understands me, but we are both working towards a common goal. At a barn and riding is the one place where I feel completely at ease and at home.