I guess I lied; never did elaborate on that last entry.
What a weekend. I spent 11 hours thursday working at Happy Trails getting everything ready for the show, then friday morning we headed out to L.A. I got home today around 6.
It's like a whole different world at the CALNET (California Network for Equestrian Therapy) horse show. Cars started to seem foreign because of all the horses, and I got so used to having disabled people around. It feels somewhat unnatural to be at home now, out of the CALNET horse show habitat.
The horses behaved really well, and the kids did great. For the kids privacy I won't mention names, but one girl got a second place (in obstacles) and sixth place (in pole-bending), our other girl got a first (in obstacles) and fifth (in pole-bending), and our boy got a second (in obstacles) and a fifth (in pole-bending). They did really good in the pole-bending, they just got lower places because pole-bending is scored mostly on time, and our horses weren't the fastest walkers. :P They weren't totally slow, but a lot of the other horses competing had more brisk walks. *shrug* Oh well. Placings or not, it was really successful...
There was a woman there that did a Parelli demonstration with her horse, and it was, to say it simply, astonishing. This woman's legs were amputated just above the knee, but she could get around very well without her prosthetics. She had a very large black horse named Black Beauty with her, and he was big. Not sure on the breed, but he could have been a quarter horse... He was very tall, very wide, very muscular. This woman was great with him; she could get him to do all kinds of things. And she always smiled and laughed, and when she talked she even sounded happy; like a little kid. She was able to do things with Black Beauty that would normally spook any horse. For example, tarp; a nightmare sometimes. It moves in the wind and makes noise and most horses just find it scary. But Black Beauty would stand there calmly, allowing her to drape a tarp over his back and under his belly and all around. He trusted her completely; there was no prey-predator situation there. Part of the grand finale was the woman getting Black Beauty to lay down. He gave her some grief (a common guess being he didn't want to get dirty), but he did go down for her once. He got up quickly, but it was clear it wasn't because he felt he'd be too vulnerable or something along those lines. It was a really amazing demonstration to watch; I nearly started crying just watching her during that demonstration and throughout the rest of the show. (She stayed there and talked to a lot of people, mostly just hanging out.) I meant to talk to her, but in the end couldn't bring myself to. I got lucky, however. As we were driving out of the equestrian center to go home I saw her walking along the lane. The window was down, so I shouted out, "I want to be you when I grow up!" She responded cheerfully, "Okay!"
The whole weekend kind of stirred me emotionally; it was borderline life-changing. I don't think I could explain it if I tried, so I won't try here. I'll probably wait 'til I get to talk to someone on the phone and see what happens when I try. But... the weekend was mostly bittersweet. It created a lot of big dreams in me, and while part of me daydreams the other part of me wonders if I can ever do something that wonderful...
I'm gonna end this post with a phrase that was on one of the other therapeutic riding facilities' banner in their barn area...
"Shoot for the moon! Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars!"