Happy Trails

Horsey rides are relatively new at our house.   First off, let me just go all proud father for a moment and say that Elaina’s a natural rider.  She normally holds on only with her legs.  I’ve given up trying to get her to hold on with hands and  legs.  I content myself with preventing her from trick riding.  Why she thinks I’m a circus pony and she should stand on me, I don’t know. 

But that’s not what this post is about.

This post isn’t about the rider.  It’s about the horse, or rather, about becoming a horsey.  You see, for some people, I suppose being a horsey seems very natural, but what you see here is something of a watershed moment for me. 

For me, for a long time, horsey rides were emblematic of everything I feared about becoming a father.  That sounds a little over-dramatic doesn’t it?  I suppose it merits a little explanation. 
You see, as a college student visiting my sister MJ and my brother-in-law, Jim, I got to observe one of the more accomplished horseys in action on a number of occasions. 

Jim was starting a business and working long hours, and at that time, there were three or four kids of riding age, all clamoring for—and receiving—his attention.  Fond as I may be of my niece and nephews, I have to say that this sight was daunting to me.  It was clear that to be an effective horsey, one really needed to genuinely like being a horsey.  Somehow, you had to want kids jumping on your back at the end of a long day.  I imagine that to some people that might be second nature.  But I know it’s not true of everyone, and I knew it wasn’t true of me.  I was pretty sure this was something you couldn’t fake.  It wasn’t something you could learn.  To be good at being a horsey, you had to want to be a horsey. 

Over the years, I generalized that little insight and amplified it until everything about being a horsey was unfathomable and terrifying.

But I’ve learned something new.  It’s not really about the horse.  It’s about the rider.  I still believe that that you have to want to be a horsey to be good at it, but what I discovered is that the right rider makes you want to be a horsey.  And then it’s effortless.

Just watch out for the trick riders.