The Five Horses We Meet in Life

This has been repeated on several blogs I read. I really love reading about other's 5 horses. Here are mine: I wrote the parts in yellow.

The Five Horses We Meet in Life

1. The Intro Horse
We each came into horses in our own way, but it was always with a horse leading us. This might have been a friend’s first pony, or perhaps it was a draft horse on a farm you once visited It might have been a real-life meeting, or an imaginary one.

The first time I saw a horse up close it scared the crap out of me. Really! It was at a riding stable and my sister took lessons there. All the horses were in standing stalls. My sister wanted to put me on one but I was terrified of the big beasts. It stirred something in me though. Soon all I would talk and read about were horses. A few years later I started taking lessons at that very same stable.

During this time I had my very first horse. He lived in the meadow down from our summer cottage. Thunder was the name of this steed. To me he was a beautiful horse but most other just thought he looks like a felled tree. I spent many an hour astride that trunk and had many adventures.

2. The Experimental Horse
Once you had crossed the line between “Darn, they’re big!” and “Wow! Can I try that?” you found yourself face-to-face with the horse that would suffer through your early attempts at figuring out the whole horse experience … wherever this horse came from, he probably didn’t benefit from the encounter as much as you did…

There would be three horses here. All from that same stable, High Style Stables. Two where pintos. Buttercup was a little palomino pinto pony. She was one of the first horses that everyone at High Style rode. She was a good pony that knew her job. Her only fault, if you can call it that, was that she would give a little cow hop if you touched her with the whip on her butt. She was sweet pony though. The other was another mare, Daisy. Daisy was also a pieball pinto and just a little more advanced that Buttercup. I learned an awful lot from those two girls. At I ended my riding at High Style with my third favorite horse, Sadie. A dark chestnut mare who would roll if you did not ride every stride. I learned to pay attention to my horse with Sadie.

I never made the connect before between those three horses and my love of chestnuts, pintos, and mares. Funny how our earlier memories effect us, even unconsciously.

3. The Connected Horse
The first horses we meet don’t really connect with us, nor do we with them. Those are experiences in survival and tests of endurance. The Connected Horse is the first horse you truly bond with. This is the horse that sounds a chord that lives so deep in you that you might never have heard it otherwise…

Rebel's HopeThis was my first real horse~Rebel's Hope. She was my dream, my life, she is the reason I was able to make it to adulthood. Without Hope I doubt I would have made in past my teenage years. During those years I could always say I had Hope. She was just a big red horse in my backyard but I had Hope. Hope taught me how to really ride, how to trust, how to feel the wind in my hair. She was not always an easy horse, especially during the early years but as I gained her trust I found out what it meant to really have someone trust and believe in you. There will never be another Hope, and it has taken me a long time to learn how to live without Hope. I think I am learning though.

4. The Challenger
Into each horseperson’s life, a little challenge must fall. You’ll have read that one final training book, bought yourself a clicker and heading rope, and there you’ll stand, arms crossed, assessing the situation as if you actually knew what the situation was. It might be difficult to believe, as you are flying down the aisleway on the losing end of a braided cotton line, but you actually need this horse in your life…

Each horse has given me challenges. My first ride on Hope left me in the middle of a field with my left stirrup, but no horse. A TB gelding I had I eventually sold after owning him a short time because he was more than I needed at the time. But I think this one really has to go to Abby.



Abby has been a challenge. This is the first horse I got seriously injured on. Well technically I was not on her when I got hurt, but you get the idea. I have not given up on her yet. I have plans, no money, but plans. I hope that I can overcome this challenge or at least send Abby on in the best possible way to have a happy home with someone who can deal with the challenge.

5. Your Deepest Heart
There will come a time when you will look at yourself with a cold, appraising eye, and you’ll have to be honest about your continued ability to deal with The Challenger and other difficult horses. At that point, you’ll seek out the horse that will be your soul mate forever… You’ll have bought him the most comfortable, best fitting equipment… Maybe you’ll still go to shows and ride – brilliantly or barely – in the Alzheimer’s class. Maybe you’ll just stay home. Whatever you do, one day you’ll realize that after all the money you spent on animal communicators and trainers, you only had to stop and listen and you would have clearly heard your horse’s thoughts and desires…


Obviously Hope would fit this except she did not come after my Challenger horse. I am hoping that this horse is Abby, except Abby is my challenger. If not then Kinsey. I really did have to look at what my actually abilities were when I bought Kinsey. We have not reached the point that I can clearly hear her thoughts, but I am sure enjoying getting to know this red mare that looks so much like my heart horse, Hope. They are not the same, and honestly I wouldn't want them to be. Hope was so special that nobody can take her place in my heart. I do hope though that Hope can allow some room in there for me to love another.