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Just
Letting Him Be Chance
by Beth Dore
“Horse” can seep into your brain,
heart and blood. It can surface from time to time through the years and
it can hibernate during other periods of life. “Horse” surfaced 10
years ago with the purchase of a well-trained, well-mannered petite
Quarter-Arab cross known as Tony. What a versatile, sweet and smart
guy. He had done the show thing; the parade thing; he rode English and
Western. I used him on the trails. Tony was a superb little jumper and
just plain fun. Yeah ... he had spirit too .... that’s the greatest
part of the horse, spirit.
....
The “horse” in my veins went into hibernation
while helping raise my lovely three young step-daughters and daughter.
Laundry, cooking, cleaning, as well as working full time, and tending to
the hustle and bustle of daily activities sent ‘horse’ in my blood to
sleep. I remember watching Tony load into my brother-in-law’s trailer
ready to live out the rest of his years on a cow farm hours away. Guilt
of not working with him got the better of me and this seemed to be a
kinder life for him.
“Horse” continued to sleep.
UNTIL ... three years later my
husband and I took our daughters on a horse camping trip (ok ... try
taking four pre-teen girls camping and riding horses ... memorable, yes
.... but maybe not the best memories for them ... at least they realized
they didn’t have an affinity for camping or horses). “Horse” awoke in
me – renewed, refreshed and stronger than ever thanks to Storm, a dapple
grey gelding I rode on this trip.
I couldn’t get “horse” out of my
brain so what could I do but satisfy the craving. Searching for a horse
isn’t difficult --- if you’re not picky and ok with acquiring “a
project” --– that’s actually really easy to do.
We found “Willie” ... a chestnut
gelding .... the product of a divorce and a third party selling him –
cheap. Oh wow ... what a deal! He was high-headed and high-strung.
The whites of his eyes were exposed most of the time. Remember, Tony
was almost perfect in every way, aren’t all horses similar? Tender
loving care is all they need and they’ll take care of you. Sometimes
maybe. These are my gullible equine years when many lessons were
learned.
I rode Willie on two separate
occasions – both times he was nervous and rigid - and the decision was
made to purchase him (call us crazy). “Willie” would become ‘my
project’ – to calm him, train him and rehabilitate him into a decent,
happy, safe horse. First thing, we are changing his name to “Chance.”
Chance’s history remains a mystery.
We don’t know how he was treated (or mistreated); how he was trained (he
was at least green broke); was he gamed or what type of riding did he
do; was he part Tennessee Walker .... we guess at his possible 15
years of life – his age is a mystery too. All we can do is wonder why
the whites of his eyes are unmistakable and why he has such a
high-strung nature.
My husband and I beamed as we brought
Chance into a boarding barn and showed him off to other horse friends.
I look back and laugh at their expressions when they met Chance for the
first time. Their eyes were as wide and white as Chance’s! A comment
was made, “He has the devil in him.” Hey ... remember, he’s my
project.
I rode Chance on the trails for two
years; he did fairly well after I got to know him. He remained
skittish and a tad explosive. We’d gallop the trails. That was
Chance. We trailered to an equine campsite and prior to riding with a
group of people we had just met, I galloped Chance around the field to
“get the fire out.” My husband laughs at the looks these people gave me
... they doubted their desire to ride with the crazy horse. But they
did and everything was fine.
One day something got into my brain
(maybe it was wisdom) and told me Chance is dangerous and my confidence
fizzled fast. He never hurt me – I was afraid of what “could” happen.
I quit riding him and ended up with Chief, a less dominant, kind-eyed
Paint gelding who’s been a dream. Chief is willing to learn and has
come a long way in his training.
Four years have passed. Chance has
been up for sale – free to a good home and looked at by a handful of
people who have all said, “Thanks but NO WAY” – he’s been to
professional training flunking the only thing I wanted, a CONTROLLED
canter - discussions occurred multiple times about taking him to
auction.
Whatever possessed me to saddle
Chance up two months ago I’ll never know. I read an article about
letting a horse be himself and not hold him back. I wanted to ride
Chance again and give him that millionth chance to let me enjoy him
again. It was a personal goal. His eyes weren’t as white as I remember
them – I do attribute that to tender-loving care; although, whatever his
past or his nature, he’ll always be on guard to spread them wide open in
a split second. He has a rigid, thick neck and will hold that head high
as he can, but that’s Chance, he’ll get a rhythm to snorting as he walks
with that fast, decisive walk of his, he continues to be oh-so sensitive
to any leg cues or waving of your arms, but this is all just Chance.
This is his nature and his way of being ... don’t fear him ... just let
him be Chance.
The other day I had this urge to let
him canter up the trail – not knowing if things were going to turn out
ok but knowing I needed to give him a chance. WE did it!!! I was
trying to make him into something he’ll never be – he’s got a lot of
spirit and he has challenged me and made me a better rider.
When I go over to Chance in the
pasture now – his usual antic is to turn his neck tightly away and look
the other direction – disrespectful by all means. But now I notice,
even though he still turns his neck – not as tightly though- I notice he
glances back at me with a kinder eye. If a horse can give thanks to his
human, I’ll take this as Chance’s thank you to me for not giving up on
him!
I do not recommend bringing home “a
project” unless you’re mentally and physically up for the task. It took
me seven years to realize Chance is who he is however much we’ve tried
to change him into that stereotypical perfect type of mount. Call him
special or unique, mind boggling and frustrating, rewarding and
satisfying. Sometimes the more difficult situations in life are the
most fulfilling.
~ Beth Dore
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