This Side of Wild and Crazy

HFAdmin | August 23, 2010

Since last I wrote, it seems my life has gone from somewhat wild and crazy to barely manageable. In the course of three weeks, I found myself bouncing between the West Coast, the East Coast and the Third Coast (that’s what Texans and us transplants call the Gulf Coast) more times than I care to admit or invest the time calculating. The weeks included roller coaster rides of emotions, plane rides from coast to coast, car rides and even some great horse rides (in fact a personal best ride on my mare to date). In an unexpected but welcomed turn of events, my husband returned from his assignment in the Middle East. His return was as tearful as our good bye four months ago but this time the tears were happy tears. Juggling all the travel (planned and unplanned) and managing our household proved difficult. I figured if I could make it through the next 3 weeks and not have the pool turn green, the electricity shut off, my stalls flood in the rain or the weeds in the flowerbed take over the free world, I would be pleased. (Not too much to ask, right?) Over the course of the days and in the moments when I convinced myself it was all too much, I thought to myself, “How have things become so crazy?” and “When will all this end?”

In the midst of my hectic schedule, travel, riding and down right meltdowns I realized 3 things:

In the first 23 days of August, I will have only slept in my own bed only 5 times.
I have a great partner in my husband and he has a good one in me. We may not always have it all together but together we have it all,
With little thought or effort I had checked off one of my goals.

My horse focused 6 month deployment (read: keep me out of the loony bin) coping strategy is to Learn, Restore and Revive. With no surprise, my goals are mostly horse related. One of my specific goals is to Explore the world of horses through someone else’s eyes. One thing I have learned to appreciate recently is the vast array of ways people interact with horses. I wanted take a journey to explore a few more.

Journey it was and a bigger one for a certain group of wild mustangs than for me. A local trainer and friend I have been working with was competing in the Extreme Mustang Makeover this past weekend and a large group traveled over 7 hours to cheer her and her little mustang Shine on over the course of the 2 day competition. I was amazed to see over 80 mustangs of varying sizes, shapes and colors with a group of trainers just as varying compete. Each rider and mustang competed in a rail class, reining class, trail class and cow working session. Observing each pair confidently navigate each obstacle, face a cow and all the big city sites and sounds with only a 100 days or less of training made me ponder how these little horses (most just over 6 years old and wild only months ago) must have felt. Most of the mustangs traveled from the wilds of Nevada and Utah to loving homes and trainers eager to nurture and train them. I wondered to myself what must have they thought when the world as they knew it changed? Did they think – “How had things become so crazy?” and “When will all this end?” I am certain their adopters soothed their restless nerves and offered them structure and discipline. Through conditioned response, a whole lot of patience and partnership their new adopters molded them into stunning mounts capable of competing at a level unachieved by most riders.

I know the horse lover in us all tends to humanize our mounts and there is even a fancy term for this all too common behavior. Webster’s defines anthropomorphization as attributing human form or personality to things not human. I admit it. As I watched my friend, Lorrie Grover, compete in the top 20 finals, remove her bridle, pick up two flags and lope figure 8’s around the Will Rogers Coliseum, I was deep into anthropomorphizing. I watched Shine’s eyes as she passed, one US flag and one Texas flag waving above her stark black mane. She looked proud, confident and brave. In just that one glance of her eye, the same one I had seen many times before then, I saw the world of horses through someone else’s eye – hers. I learned a little bit more than horse sense. I learned a little human sense. Much like Shine, with time, reflection and a good partner, my life did not seem so wild, suddenly not so crazy. I was confident again and brave enough to take on what ever comes my way.

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About the author: Saddle Up Working Girl is a 30 something Navy wife and New Jersey transplant living in Texas and trying to make it all work. Her more than 60 per week job with a Fortune 500 company job keeps her flying around the country. While her house is lovely, it isn’t always clean. Her horses are fat and she still manages to slide into the saddle 4-5 times per week – hence the weeds in the flower beds. She invites you to come on the journey as she juggles kicking off her heels and heading out horseback only to change in the car and make it to the gym. She is certain you will empathize with the careful art of balancing working, planning dinner, mucking stalls, standing horses for the farrier and still managing to sleep every once in awhile. Follow her on Twitter!

Photo credit: Tim Ball
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