My Difficult Heart Horse

Have you ever owned a difficult horse? One who did not fall in with a typical timeline?

The horse who drew stares wherever you took him (and not in a good way)? The horse who caused a ruckus and people made bets on whether or not he’d unseat you?

I still remember the first time I met my farrier (and now good friend). I was new to the area and needed a farrier and I’m annoyingly honest so I probably spent far more time on the phone with her than she would have liked, warning her about my herd. At the time, it was just my three boys, Wrangler, Spur, and Jackson. Wrangler is an angel, Jackson has a neurological disease, and Spur is “weird”.

Spur was a three year old (I think?) at the time. She spent some time introducing herself to him and he looked like he was ready to jump out of his skin any moment. About halfway through she stands up and conversationally asks me when I’m going to start riding him.

“I already do,” I said.

“You RIDE him?!” she was incredulous.

And that kind of sums up Spur in a nutshell.

The cold hard truth is (and I tell people this frequently) THIS is an improvement. Every year he grows up a little bit more, and the people meeting him for the first time have no idea just how far we’ve come.

But I know.

I’m super grateful that I have a supportive Instagram friend who has also had difficult horses in her lifetime. She reminds me that we (her Instagram followers) get to see the wins but it took her and her horse(s) many, many years to reach that point. Years of small improvements.

I think we’ve probably all heard that saying, “there are too many good ones to ride a bad one.” And I honestly whole heartedly agree… if by “bad” you mean “dangerous”. And Spur is not that.

Spur has his limitations, placed on him by his own mind. We work through our fears together and we understand when one of us needs to call it quits on something for the time being.

Spur doesn’t progress on a “typical” scale or time frame, and that’s okay with me. Spur may never be an “old broke kids horse” and that’s okay with me, too.

I have to make more effort than most folks do with their 7 year old broke horses, and I try my darndest not to complain about that because this horse has taught me more in the last handful of years than every other horse I’ve ever ridden in the two decades before that.

He’s my heart horse.