How Time Flies!

I had the veterinarian out a couple of weeks ago to do my horse Hadarah’s teeth and got a shock. As many of you know, I’ve had horses in one way or another much of my life, and I’ve had Hadarah since she was six-months-old, so she’s like my kid—or at least the closest thing I will ever experience to having children. Anyway, when the vet asked how old she was, I thought she was about 23 or so. Since Hadarah is in really great shape, most people don’t think she’s even that old, so when I dug out her registration papers the other day, I got a surprise!—She’s 25! The vet thought she was in really terrific shape, even for 23, except for her teeth, that is, and I have to face the fact that one of these days Hadarah will become a gummer.

Now I’m reading up on how to take care of OLD horses, something I’ve not had to do before, since most of them never live long enough to need hay or complete-ration pellets and start viewing hay or grass merely as entertainment. I’m glad though, to know that even as an old horse, I can still continue to ride and enjoy my equine partner for many more years yet. I want to offer my heartfelt thanks to those research institutions that have made this possible! It will indeed be a very sad day when Hadarah and I part company, and I’m happy to know that it’s still some years down the road.

All of this was in preparation to getting my own backside into the saddle again—something I haven’t done for about the past year. I’ve had my own health problems, but one of the main reasons why I quit riding was because my ortho Doc really scared me. Now, she knew when I got my total knee replacement several years ago that I planned to continue riding, and she didn’t tell me I couldn’t. What she did tell me was that I could NOT fall off, or I would break my leg right below where the prosthesis ends in my tibia. Well Jeez, that put the fear of God into me! Granted, I really don’t fall off anymore, unless there are mitigating circumstances, but one never knows when a horse might shy and there you are looking up from the ground! All the same, that news scared me to death, because what would I do then?

Well, I’ve chewed over this news for the past year or so. I continued to pay my horse’s board and buy her treats, but considering that horses are very expensive creatures to maintain under the best of circumstances (you don’t want to know how much the vet bill was for the teeth, general exam, and shots mentioned above), it rankled that I was now too scared to hop on and go for a ride—me, who has taken several years worth of riding lessons and paid out a small fortune buying horse tack through the years!

Finally, I just said, “To heck with it! Life is too short not to enjoy what we love! If I break my leg, I break it, and we shall just deal with it then! So there!” This week I’ve been on vacation, and I have thoroughly enjoyed spending time every day with Hadarah—and yes, we have gone for some rides I loved it, and yes, it’s just like riding a bicycle—you never forget how!