The Horsepower Homestead

My horseback riding instructor was old when he started teaching me. I don't say that lightly or to be mean. Nor am I exaggerating. It's simply fact. He was in his 60s when I started riding with him. And now, he's mid 70s. He's funny though, you wouldn't know he's old. He refuses to age. He has however come to terms with the fact that he can't ride anymore. Although it's not so much that he isn't mentally capable, more like his two metal hips, and metal knee making mounting up very challenging. He can't break colts like he used to. He still starts them, but he needs someone else in the saddle these days. That's where I come in. He's had some health issues and family stuff the past few years. We haven't seen each other much. But I always call around Christmas. So I called him last weekend. And he was so happy to hear from me. Because he'd been thinking of calling me. But he wasn't sure I had time for "an old man and hi...

My trainer knew a lot of horse people. He had worked with Mark Rashid in his younger years, before moving out of the Western riding circle, away from rodeos and broncos, and into the calmer, smoother world of flatseat and Dressage. I had been a student of Mr. Bee's since I was 10. And one day, during the summer, when I was 16 years old, I was spending nearly everyday at the barn. I had gotten my drivers license a few months before school let out, and I was putting it to good use. Mr. Bee ran a small hippotherapy program, an equestrian therapy program for special needs children. I spent a lot of time helping him with the kids. In return, I rode nearly as much as I desired. Mr. Bee and I had been working with Barrister most of that summer. Barrister had been with us for a year. He was steady, calm, and bomb proof. We had trained him to lay down, so I could put wheelchair bound children on his back without lifting them. Our wheelchair ramp/mounting block was still under construct...