My mother was an equestrian. It was her passion. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get me into riding. My interests were based in music, dance, and theatre. By no means did I ever anticipate that would help me later on in my life in so many aspects, but that is another story for another time. Every chance I had to ride a horse, I was terrified. As a child, I always had the ability to steer away from anything that could potentially hurt me, destroy me, always protective of my body. What is more likely to do that than a thousand pound animal?
You are probably wondering: Ok, so why did you start riding? Well, the story of my riding and meeting Dakota were nothing less than divine. After losing my father to cancer 4 years ago, I began to compile a bucket list. Some may find this silly as I am only 24 years old, but my father was 56 and hadn't done things in his life that he always desired to do. Sure, my bucket list could include things like climb Mount Everest, jump from an airplane. But why tackle huge things when you aren't even able to overcome something, like your fear of one of God's most beautiful creatures? I began tackling my bucket list by starting simple: overcoming my fear of riding a horse. The horse as an animal had always intrigued me- their beauty, their mystery, how they can be afraid of a small kitten and not even know their own size! But to ride them- that was completely different.
A groupon came through my inbox for local horseback riding, and I was soon to be making a trip up to visit my godfather and wife in MA (both fearless people). His wife plays polo and rides horses and he wanted me to be able to go riding with her. I agreed, with slight hesitation and concern. After all, I hadn't been on a horse since I was 7 or 8 years old, and I knew they were powerful. I bought the groupon...hey, if anything was going to happen it might as well not be on my vacation. Little did I know that this groupon purchase would lead me to meeting Dakota.
After a week in MA and falling in love with spending time at the barn and horses, soon began a journey of everything equestrian. For my birthday that week, I asked my boyfriend for a gift certificate of lessons to continue at the barn I had purchased the groupon for. Being the amazing man he is, he followed through with that request. But I had yet to ride Dakota. It wasn't until my 4th lesson or so, and man was I in for a shock. I had been on stubborn, old and slow horses. Not Dakota. Her trot was not stubborn nor was it slow. For the first time in 10 years, I was finding something as a challenge. I realized- this is not as easy as it looks. You hop on and walk/trot. Great....now let's really learn how each horse is different and trots differently. I also didn't know at this point what it meant to trust a horse. Sometimes I still struggle with this. This was just the beginning of my experience with Dakota....one that would continue to grow each and every day. Every post I write will explain the ups, the downs, the path that lead me to Dakota, and how it has intertwined with my everyday life and mindset.
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