The Chloe Chronicles
Chapter 1, Mistaken Identity
I decided recently to join The Right Horse Initiative, a program of the ASPCA aiming to drastically increase adoption of horses in transition from one career to the next. I decided to join as an industry partner through my company, Global Equestrian, because I thought I was a master classifier of horses…this horse is a riding school horse, this horse is a sport horse, this horse is yard art, so on & so forth.
I offered to take Chloe because my friend needed a home for her & I have a riding school. I need another horse like I need a hole in the head. I do not generally feel drawn to orange colored horses or thoroughbred mares or 19 year old animals when I’m thinking about the economics of my operation.
Why did I do it? I truly do not know- I had a couple of options with friends & clients needing horses for various jobs, but I had no way of knowing how she might fit in to any program after years without regular riding. Surely, I thought, she will be a lesson horse suitable for someone?
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What has happened instead? I saw very clearly that I wrongly categorized Chloe. She’s been, for most of her life, an animal used for breeding, having limited riding mileage. She’s led a very nice life of leisure to this point & at first, when I put her back to work, she thought she must be under attack! She must have thought,
Where has my life of leisure gone?
What I thought to myself in that very same moment was
This is not a riding school horse.
The next day, as I started the training, Chloe showed me that she is the smartest horse I’ve ever met. The next day she showed me that she had talent beyond 90% of horses I ever see. The next day she showed me how she wants me to help her. Today, I have yet to see her in the stable but I’m heading there now & I can’t wait to see what she will show me next.
What will the next day bring & the next? I don’t know, but I’m definitely not going to limit my imagination of what the rest of Chloe’s life might be with preconceived ideas of color, or breed, or age. Isn’t that a nice lesson to learn from a horse?
Thanks, Chloe.
