Saying Goodbye

December 31, 2007

Last week I said goodbye to my long-time horse buddy Smoke who I started riding over 15 years ago (see A Healthy Approach to Showing Horses for more on Smoke).

When I was somewhere around 8-9 years old, woman named Tammi decided on a whim one day that it would be fun to have some horses. So she went out and bought two Quarter Horses and a Shetland pony. This wasn’t the best idea in the world, as she had next to no horse experience. When Tammi discovered that my mom, however, did know a little something about horses, she invited mom out to school the ill-behaved pasture ornaments. This worked out exceedingly well for me, as I could ride the Shetland, and then moved up to Smoke once mom had got him to stop bucking or rearing every other step.

This was the beginning of a great — but somewhat painful — partnership. Smoke was the first horse I had to ride at home on a consistent basis, I learned to recognize my diagonals with him, I learned to canter with him, I learned to jump with him, I went to my first horse show with him, and best of all I learned to stop being such a wimp with him.

Smoke is one of the smartest horses I have ever known; a fact of which he is fully aware. He is quite friendly, but knows how easily he can intimidate little kids by pinning his ears and sticking his head up high where they can’t reach to put on his halter. At 9, I was scared to death of him. I didn’t mind so much when I was on and riding him, but he really bullied me on the ground.

It didn’t help that my mom refused to come to my rescue. I remember one blisteringly-hot summer day I had to go retrieve Smoke from the pasture. He was dancing at the gate under the attack of an army of flies. I was barely tall enough to get his halter on when he stood normally, so I didn’t have much chance when he wouldn’t stand still and was throwing his head. I was convinced I was going to get trampled, and mom refused to help. Eventually I did manage to get that halter on by myself, and I distinctly remember this event as one of my first horse-handling triumphs.

Smoke and I had lots of battles like this throughout those early years, both on the ground and in the saddle. We did learn to respect each other, and I learned to stop being a wimp and to just get in there and do it. I learned to handle a difficult horse, and he learned to respect and listen to me.

We had two very successful years of showing when I was 11 and 12. Between those years, Tammi sold Smoke to Little Neshannock Stables, where my 4-H club was based. Fortunately, I was able to work one day a week in order to help pay for a half lease and continue riding Smoke. After I moved up to a more difficult horse, my younger sister started riding and showing Smoke, and for years after that I taught lessons with Smoke as one of my favorite school horses.

I can’t even begin to go into everything I learned from Smoke, but suffice it to say it was a lot!

Now at age 23, Mary (LNS’s owner) has decided to retire Smoke from lessons and has given him away to a local family as a pet and trail horse. I was pretty upset at first, because I knew I’d probably never see him again. At least when he was at LNS I could visit and would always knew how he was. Now I’ll just have to wonder.

Last week I went out early the morning he was leaving and brushed him up but good, trimmed him, and took a whole lot of pictures. I’d already been sad enough for weeks about it, so I just enjoyed the time I had to spend with him.

I told him to be good for his new family, but not too good. They’ll learn a lot more if they have to work for it — after all, I would know.

Posted in Jackie's Thoughts, Riding and showing