Ever since I was little, I've wanted a horse. Not like crazy obsessed, everything in my room was a horse (not that there is anything wrong with that, my room just happened to be covered in cows). I think I never pushed too hard for a horse because I already had cows. I even had a cow I could hop on and ride around, but that desire for a horse still lingered in the back of my mind.
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| Before a trailride at the SDSU horse unit. |
Over the past few years, when we would visit my fiancé's family, I'd ride every chance I would get. I even joined SDSU Horse Club for a semester because they did trail rides. Then this past semester, my last semester at SDSU, I decided on a whim to check and see if the Horsemanship classes had any openings right before the semester started and low and behold, the English Horsemanship class had one opening. So every week I got to ride and be with horses for two hours. I learned so much beyond just sitting on a horse and my thirst for knowledge would not allow me to stop there, therefore I wanted a horse.
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| Dusty and I in Kansas in 2014. |
I knew I wanted an older horse that already knew how to work cattle and could help finish out my basic riding education. This is where Mr. Dusty came into my mind. Dusty used to live at Nick's mom's house because they took care of him for a friend. Before he moved to Kansas in 2012, Dusty was a feedlot horse, meaning he worked cattle all day long, everyday. Also he is 14 years old, making him a great candiate for what I was looking for. However, he's not perfect. He has some issues.
He has a condition called heaves, which basically means he's allergic to mold dust. So he has to live the rest of his life outdoors and cannot eat out of a big round bale of hay or any moldy hay.
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| Dusty ready for a close up! |
He also has an attitude problem. He went from working all the time to pretty much being retired and lazy. This laziness created an ego problem. He thinks he's in charge and he likes to bite.
He's not perfect. No he's not, but neither am I. He gets a bad break from some people because he's not the easiest horse to take care of, but sometimes, I'm not easiest to take care of either. He bites. I had a biting problem until I was about three and I sometimes catch myself clenching my jaw. He's not perfect, but that's ok. As we look forward to the new year, we can both start working towards become better versions of the person and horse we want to be and a better team.
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| The day Nick and I picked up Dusty. |
Therefore, my new years resolution is not to become perfect, to never try to be perfect, but to be perfectly me and to love those around me and never expect them to be anything, but perfectly themselves. And to get Dusty and myself back into working shape.
