Together

We wrap up my last lesson. As I go to tack up a horse in training, my student's dad brings Max in from the pasture. "Goin' riding?" I ask.

"Yup," he smiles.

"Glad he's working out so well for you!" I beam with delight. They bought Max for a song at a local auction a few weeks ago. As if the Appaloosa knows how close he came to an uncertain, even horrifying future, he has given his heart to his new family in gratitude. Dad swings into the saddle and rides out.

I think about how seldom I just ride for fun. Not that I don't HAVE fun when I ride--I'm blessed and deeply grateful that my passion and my vocation are one. But to just tack up and ride off into the beauty of the world when I'm not getting paid, when it's not on The List... inconceivable! I think the last time was Thanksgiving when I brushed the mud and retirement off Knight and we plundered the woods for cedar boughs to make Christmas garland. And we're not talking this past Thanksgiving.

I've set it up this way--leverage my fun so I don't have to have a separate and soul-numbing J.O.B.--so I can't complain about the tradeoffs. I CAN push towards continual evolution to transform the banes into boons.

My client's horse and I are deep in concentration and exertion when they come back. Somewhere out in the rolling green Dad met up with his daughter, who had taken her shadowy mare for a post-lesson cool-down ride around the farm. Time taken to enjoy a kind horse, a beautiful day, and close family. Together, they amble home through the golden evening.