Musings on Going to Try Out a Horse

In about an hour I am going to leave the house and journey 80 miles to visit and try out a horse today. I’m cautiously optimistic at this point.

I’ve found this horse, or perhaps he found me?, through a local rescue. Not having ever obtained a horse through a rescue before, I am nervous.

My internal dialogue:

“Doesn’t rescue mean there’s something wrong with him?”

But I got my first dog through a rescue and she was a dog of a lifetime. Yes, she could be left alone with food on a coffee table (for a few minutes) and when I’d return, the food was still there. One time I did not shut the front door tight in my Chicago townhouse and I went out for groceries. I came home and the front door was all the way open. She was sitting like a statue inside the house, a few feet from the doorway. She came outside when she saw me. What a good girl.

My first dog, Winnie, the red Doberman.

“What if there is some underlying health problem that a pre-purchase exam misses?”

This could happen with any horse. Owning a horse is a risk period. A healthy horse today might not be a healthy horse tomorrow, or in five years. Life is a risk. Love is a risk.

“Maybe the rescue is just trying to unload a horse and we’re not really going to be a good fit.”

Perhaps, but a rescue isn’t really in it for the money the way a sales barn is or even a private owner. In this day of social media why would a rescue try to pawn off a horse landing it in an inappropriate situation?

“What if I don’t ride him well and the videos make him look good because the person on his back was a stellar equestrian?”

I might not ride him well initially. I have been out of the saddle for three weeks due to travel. But every ride is different and I can do the best that I can. Breathe, look up. Don’t think too hard. Just feel. I rode multiple unknown horses when I competed intercollegiate horse shows. Yes, I was younger then, but since then I’ve had more hours in more saddles.

The butterflies are fluttering inside. Which might not be all that bad. The same butterflies accompanied me on my first date with a handsome school teacher six years ago. The man I now know as the “I’m not going to ride, I’m going to jump” poster boy for International Helmet Awareness Day.

If you enjoy a good Tweet now and then and dig horses on Instagram, please follow Saddle Seeks Horse. And you can check out our Facebook page too!