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SUNDAY, JULY 5, 2009
Hotel California (aka The Horse World)
Hi, my name is Celena and I have a horse problem. If I went to therapy, I might get diagnosed with a horse obsession – so I don’t go to therapy. But I can admit it; I’m a horseperson.
In our home, you’ll find as many photographs of my horses as of my family – maybe even more. The wedding photo that is prominently displayed in our dining room is not of me and my wonderfully supportive husband, but of me in my wedding dress astride my big black horse. At my maternity photo shoot – well, okay, there were a few photos of the proud parents to be. But most of the shots are of me, my belly full of bouncing baby boy, and my lovely filly, Glory.
As I said, I have a horse problem.
Our herd keeps growing – and with it, the amount of tack and equipment. Tack and feed stores are danger zones for my wallet. The horse books don’t fit on our bookcase anymore. We have to keep the VCR because some of my favorite natural horsemanship programs are on video tapes. And my son was introduced to his pony before he was born.
I tried to leave the horse world a few times – when I just wasn’t having fun anymore because I realized that my horses weren’t having fun, either. But I kept getting drawn back in, unable to stay away for long, and eventually I found the fun again in natural horsemanship. I finally came to the conclusion that entering the horse world is like the Eagles’ Hotel California – “you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”!
Sound familiar? I thought so. We are horsepeople – we can’t help it, we’re addicted. We are a breed of our own, an eclectic group of people bound together by a common love of horses that none of us really understands. We don’t really know why we love horses, all we know is that we do and always will. Hopefully you, too, are blessed with indulgent families – goodness only knows it takes a lot of understanding to be saddled with a horseperson!
And no, hunny, we didn’t name our son after a horse. The fact that the name of one of my favorite jumpers of all time was Big Ben is just a coincidence. I just like the name Ben. Really.
POSTED BY CELENA AT 6:02 PM POST A COMMENT
CATEGORIES: HORSEPEOPLE - A BREED OF OUR OWN, MY FAMILY
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