Hi there
@Florian7051 - sorry I am so late to this thread.
We have 5 horses. My vet...
I am still working with the horses weekly; I haven't updated this thread in a while because I kind of fell in a hole, but I'm starting my climb out, so here's what's been going on. For those that don't know (and care to) I am a recovering alcoholic; I had a relapse recently which felt like a major set back in my recovery. It was actually a day at equine therapy (a day I decided to finally go) that started to turn things around for me. I had gotten sober, but was in the stage of self pity when I decided (thanks to some encouraging words in this forum) that I really needed to get off my ass and go to therapy.
I have been working with a new horse up there, her name is Coffee. We have been focusing a lot on drill and my BFF Dunny is too spooked by the drill flags for it to be a good match, so I had to pick a different horse. In my last post I talked about Coffee, and how nervous I was to ride her, because she just didn't feel the same as my Dunny Boy. I think I have gotten past that. Don't get me wrong there will always be a very special place in my heart for Dunny, I just can't do drill with him.
How to describe Coffee. Well she is a very spirited animal, a bit stubborn, and a bit of a diva. She's a bit of a trash talker to the other horses (especially to her brother Cannon). I think she's just beautiful and she knows it, and likes to flaunt it. She is very slow to respond to commands and I am a gentle person, so we have to work on that. I finally put on my first pair of spurs which curbed her attitude majorly, she became a lot more attentive (which tells me I need to become much more authoritative with her). However I do think she's a good match for me because she challenges me to find that person I lost so long ago, that cool, calm, collected, confident, arrogant, cocky, headstrong, man who is now shy, timid, withdrawn, and isolated. There are some days I can feel her bringing that other side of me out... then there are other days I want to have a meltdown while I'm riding her (it's a process).
Anyways, back to the relapse. So the day after I went up there and decided to ride and at first everything felt wrong like I wanted to have the meltdown I spoke about. But I can think of no better metaphor fitting for the story of the Phoenix rising from the ashes than that day. By the end of the day I was in a completely different place. Just like that, the horses took that mentality of self pity, and changed my mindset back to recovery; I was determined and motivated once again. I can't speak highly enough for what these animals have done for me. I will try to post some more pictures...
