Taffy, my first horse

Kimberly at I Gallop On has challenged us to tell the tales of our first horses.

My first horse was a 6 month old filly named Taffy. I brought her home to my menangery of goats, pigs, chickens, dogs and cats. We had a little barn the animals lived in and I would go out and spend hours just hanging out with the critters. When the school bus would bring me home, my animals would have broken out of the pen and be standing at the end of the driveway waiting for me.

One day it seemed like it was time to start riding Taffy, so I just got on her. I don't remember it being a problem at all. I was probably pretty hard on my 2 year old filly but she was happy to travel with me. I lived out of my backpack and camped out in the forest or worked on ranches. One time, I was traveling with her and she was too young to ride the distance, so I hitched a ride for us. She had never trailered, but I just asked her to get in the back of the truck with me and away we went.

Later on, I would ride her into town (20 miles). Sometimes I would just use a little kite-string for tack. You could tie her with a thread to a parking meter on a busy street, or put her in hobbles on a grassy lawn. I loved to be riding down the street and encounter kids that wanted to go for a horsey ride. She didn't like to move fast, but she was as reliable as the sun in the sky.

When we would camp out in the forest, I would sleep on the ground in my sleeping bag and my filly would stand over me like a mare does with a foal. The first time I woke up to find myself boxed in by four hooves, I thought it was a little scarey, but after a few minutes I felt perfectly safe and went back to sleep.

In the winter we would find snow banks to jump into. I managed to board her with a big herd of horses between her second and third year. This was really good for her as she had just grown up with humans (me) so she got to learn how to be a horse.

At some point, I thought I needed to go to Alaska. Horses weren't worth much those days, so I took her to the sale barn to sell her. I didn't realize there were any alternatives. I rode her into the ring with no tack and got off and crawled under her. It scared some of the cowboys at the sale, who thought I was taking a big chance. A dude ranch bought her. They got a very good deal at $240 but that was 1972.

What I learned from Taffy is that horses are remarkable kind and gentle animals if they are befriended. I see now, that they are mirrors for human energy. Many people believe that horses are unreliable dangerous critters and it is a vicious circle they fall into. I have watched all of my animals become trustworty and affectionate friends in response to the love I give them.