March 7, 2009

horses and girl fights

i went to a training class today for some volunteer work i'm going to do in the next couple months with an organization that helps disabled people ride horses. 

maybe it has something to do with a childish wish for a horse, but i like the scene...i like the dirt...i like the work...the perfumey aroma of horse dandruff...the fact that we are helping disabled people have fun...the people...

horse people are hilarious.
there are a few types: 

-the wishers (thats me): wide eyed with wonder and the feeling of being 5 years old watching a parade...dreamy with visions of thousands of years of history born on the back of horses...wishing cars would go away forever and that a regression of transportation modes would take place.  i think it has something to do with being a girl, but i still dont know what the draw is. 

-the talkers: the people who really want you to KNOW that they own horses 

-the genuine: the people that own horses who dont care what you think or know (these are the ones you want on your team...they are also the ones who you dont mess with...they push around thousand pound animals and they arent afraid of YOU)

it felt lovely to get out of chico and feel like a human again (author's note: humans and students are different entities, and shifts can be made from one to the other in an osmosis-like fashion based on a combination of internal and external circumstances.  please do not mistake students with humans, and be sure to feed any students you encounter in the wild).  

i made a friend (actually God made a friend FOR me) who has 3 horses and she says she'll let me ride with her, which made me so excited i couldnt even see straight.  i must have REALLY looked five years old and wide eyed and dreamy when she told me that.  i was talking to her for like 5 minutes and she busts out with, "you've never ridden in an english saddle before?  well you should come out and ride with us [her mom was there with her].  let me get your number before you go."  

who does that?  

she's a high school student who is taking her senior year at community college.  she was telling me stories how she got so sick of the girls at school picking on her that she just started punching girls who picked fights with her.  like, literally decking them, which is funny because she's this skinny quiet thing.  she said after 5 or 6 fights, she didnt have anymore problems.

as you can see, my new friend falls into the third category of horse people as listed above.  she trains this thoroughbred that is 16.3 hands high...that means that if she was standing on one side of its withers and you were on the other, you wouldnt be able to see her...and she's an inch taller than me.  you would see horse shoulder.  thats it.  thats crazy.

1 comment:

John and Janelle said...

I am SO excited for you! that is amazing! The Lord has such good reasons for keeping you up there and He loves you so much :)