Rut #2: Horses

When I was 10, my uncle let me take his 50cc quad around his cul-de-sac while he and my dad worked outside. It was dark so that you could barely tell the tops of the houses from the night sky. Apprehensive at first, as I'd never ridden a quad by myself before, I started to get the hang of it by the tenth lap. 

As fortune would have it, just when I got confident enough to start going quickly, a black cat leapt in front of me, out of my uncle's driveway. Being the sensitive, animal-loving person I am, I swerved as to not leave a patch of black and red carpet which my aunt was sure to have loved.

 That sudden movement put me into quite the fit of imbalance, causing me to careen toward my dad's trailer, bruising all but my face as I slid head-first, over the handlebars, across some scattered tools finally resting against the trailer's metal front, which was kind enough to break my fall. 

I've always loved horses. Every time I've seen an old western movie, or even shows like the Lord of the Rings, I watched in awe, thinking it would be incredible to see the world atop those majestic animals. 

However, remembering the majestic experience I had finding myself catapulted from a small motorcycle, I've been sore afraid to get near any animal that outweighs me by three times– not to mention could launch me a lot further than I launched myself off of something I supposedly had more control over. 

But the combination of it being my 25th birthday and with the challenge from class to do something I've always wanted to, but maybe have been a little afraid to try, I decided to go for it on Saturday. My horse trainer friend in Bluffdale invited me out to ride his 1,500 pound, gorgeous competition horse, Hummer.

Hummer is a horse with strong personality. The minute I got on, he tried testing me and even took off a lot quicker than I had wanted him to. But, I was able to keep my balance and he eventually learned to give in to my cues. I absolutely loved riding him around the ranch for a couple of hours and I'm looking forward to heading back up in a couple of weeks to do it again. 

The experience was terrifying, but satisfying in gaining a new perspective. There's a lot of trust you need to put in yourself and in the horse when riding. We don't think about that trust the same way when riding in a car when someone else is driving, maybe because we so readily understand other human beings. It takes time to understand the animal, and you've got to know yourself when you're riding on its back.

I have to hope accomplishing this activity and coming out without a bruise redeems me of that accident I had 15 years ago.