Horse Friends (NB- some photos in this post are from years ago hence not socially distanced!)

    There is a particular breed of person ( generally women but I do have some male horse rider buddies as well so shout out to them) who think that the best way to spend all of their time and hard earned money is on a half tonne of animal that may actually kill them/ bite them/ stand on them/ tank off across country ( or beaches) with them/ barge them and generally injure them both financially and physically. 

 

These people are HORSE PEOPLE. 

    Horse people are a completely different species to those without horses. 

In short we are all just a little bit cracked. As well as this though they are also the most wonderful, supportive and hilarious bunch of friends a girl could hope for. 

• Who else would hold my horse in the middle of a field standing watch for passers by whilst I tend to nature's call half way around a ride because I have reached "that" age? 
  
• Who else will convince me that I definitely need a new blackcurrant Loire numnah to complete my life ( and then offer to spend their evening sticking diamante on it for me to make it sparkle?) ? 
• Who else would stand by and cheer as I hurtle towards a solid obstacle that I may or may not survive getting over?
• Who else will agree that my pony has a damn sexy bum and a squishable nose ripe for the kissing? 
• Who else will understand my Facebook spamming of my horses' every movement? 
• Who else would put up with me calling them GROOMEE and ordering them around ( or vice versa) loudly in public? 

Horse friends get it. They just do. 

    I would never be able to do half the stuff I currently do without them cheering me on and supporting me. Horse friends are there when you need them most- they are never judgemental- only supportive.

    My friends don't care that I am a total wimp who doesn't like jumping over 70 cm, or going downhill fast, they understand me and by God they are so patient with me! They even entertain my delusions of grandeur when I tell them Pippa WILL do Novice dressage one day....😂

    This weekend just gone a trio of us went XC schooling. Which I am terrified of ( for very very good reason). I was so proud of my friends- they jumped huge fences, tackled difficult jumps, dealt with moving at speed and did it all amazingly- they achieved so much and pushed themselves so far out of their comfort zone- it sounds daft but I was so proud of them. 

    So, when I did jump over 70cm this weekend at cross country and when I did jump downhill down the world's smallest step my friends made a HUGE deal out of it. They understood at the same time that, although my achievements were so much more miniature than their's, for me I felt like I had just ridden Badminton. 

This is just one example among so many that I can think of right from meeting my best mate because at Secondary school we were "The Horse Girls" ,to riding on the beach for the first time with my nutty Windy pony, to hacking out on Pippa for the first time, to galloping across an open field or riding through a forest or even just being in the front of my car with me to tell me everything would be fine when I towed with two horses for the first time- I owe so much to these people. 

I keep referring to how much crap I have been through over the years (those who know about my late teens and my twenties and about the recent issues with fertility I have had know exactly where I am coming from) but throughout all of it I have always had HORSE FRIENDS - some have stayed with me from day one, others I have met along the way and some are newbies from the last couple of years from moving yards and riding club ( blog post about riding club pending) . All of you have shaped my life and have a huge impact on it. 

Thank you to my horse friends. May we always clear fences, be able to afford matchy -matchy sets, go on ridiculously long rides and get lost and generally keep  laughing  our a** es off together.  

I owe you all many, many gin and tonics 💓