I've spent some time the past couple of weeks pondering another one of Pat Parelli's sayings......"pick your partner, not your poison." As I'd mentioned previously, my old riding partner, Miles, recently returned home. Miles is a big 16.2 hand Thoroughbred, ex-racer who just turned 20. I had a friend over to ride & was talking about Miles. My conversations regarding Miles typically consist of some pretty dramatic, often scary episodes. During all this she asked "Why would you get a horse like that?". My 1st thought was that there is a lot of good about him. But I don't often share that. It was a totally fair question. Like much of society, it's easy & often more interesting to focus on the negative or high drama in life. Surely this is the fuel for the popularity of modern reality television. But is that the truth of reality? More often the truth is boring, mundane or dare I say......safe? I realized that in sharing my own reality experience with this noble,yet complicated creature that I've portrayed him only in his worst & ,yes, dramatic or fascinating moments. The real reality is that he's a nice guy with years of well earned experience, training one might dream to have in any horse, confirmation to take him soundly into old age & an exceptional ability to communicate (whether they like it or not!) with humans. He will never be beginner friendly & might be even less professional friendly! You know the type! He is a great teacher & for me, an old friend. He's taken me to the highest highs & lowest lows. Would I pick an easier horse if I'd known more back then? It'd be nice to be able to say yes....but he was meant to be with me. Like youth, loss of a loved one & great heart-break, he's caused me to grow & become better. He's ended up being more that a horse to ride.....so I really did pick a partner...but one that would be way more than a riding horse. A teacher & old friend....water under the bridge & all.
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