Reminiscing on experiences that should have been blogged.
On November 17, nearly 2000 visitors came to the school for their annual Holiday Market fundraiser. It was a good opportunity for me to say my goodbyes: to the volunteers, instructors, students, and family members that I had met in Connecticut.
One of my most challenging students was there with her husband. Knowing her lesson was approaching each week caused anxiety and restless nights. Each week was progressively worse, until I gave her a choice: today you can ride a perfect circle or I can teach you to turn on the haunches. She huffed and then asked me about the perfect circle. We created a measurable way to calculate how accurate her circle was and it challenged her. The next week, she took the time to give me a henna bracelet as a going-away gift.
JD was there with his mom and sister. His regular instructor walked up and chatted with us for a while, mentioning that she knew I've ridden with Buck.
"No way! You know Buck!" JD exclaimed.
Smiling, I explained to JD that bits and pieces of his lessons had a little bit of Buck in them, like feeling the horse's feet. I always wondered what JD thought about that, because he doesn't have his own feet to feel, but he always seemed to enjoy that part of the lesson.
So my last day teaching at school—Monday, November 18—was a memorable one.
I drove in cold wet morning weather to pick up my friend, Erin, who flew in on a red eye from Seattle to see where I'd been spending the fall of 2013. On the way to the airport, I slid through some wet leaves on a roundabout and crashed into a guardrail, bending the left front rim of my dad's car.
Seriously!? On my last day in Connecticut!? After months of careful driving all over New England, including deer near misses (one went in front of the car, the other came straight at the driver's side door in a miraculous game of "chicken").
Sigh.
After Erin and I put on the spare tire and located a junkyard with a replacement, she joined me for a tour of the school and to observe one of my favorite classes...JD's class.
Several weeks prior, JD told me that his big goal was to trot around the arena once. It became my personal goal to get him as close to his goal as I could in the time I was there. For weeks, we had been practicing keeping him balanced in the saddle without leaning into the turns, keeping his horse moving with his energy (difficult because JD does not have use of his legs), and looking in the direction that he wants to go. The morning rain cleared and we were able to go outside, where we thought his Percheron mount might not get so stuck in the corners. The horse was also weary of his leaders in recent weeks, tossing his head and being generally uncooperative. It can be a hard job for these horses. We were really hopeful that the outdoor arena would be what he needed. After some warm up trotting and volunteer rearranging, we were ready to ride into the corner. And then it happened, sitting tall and with forward movement, JD rounded one corner as I cheered him on to keep going, where he rounded another corner before settling his horse to a walk. JD bent forward and wrapped his arms around his horse's neck (again, something you just didn't see him do because of his physical limitations). Tears welled up in my eyes. I cheered so much I went hoarse.
It was my pleasure to see him progress halfway to his goal.
He gave me a gift—a Christmas ornament—a gray horse like his Percheron and a thank you card. I cherish that card maybe more than the certificate I received.
My last class was also a success. Mondays were always my favorite day at school. The students were incredible, the volunteers were so invested in their jobs, and the instructors were incredible supportive and helpful in their evaluations.
We paid a last visit to the Rustic Cafe, and the server, Jen, who had for the past few months been entertaining us with pumpkin pie martinis and the best sweet potato fries on the planet. A couple of the other ITCs joined me and Erin where we shared stories about following your passion, even if it doesn't make you wealthy. I am certain you can be rich beyond your dreams when you are making a living doing what you love and giving back.
I haven't made a living yet...I'm still in the hole with my husband footing the bills. But I have taught a few lessons to a 5-year-old on a little rescue horse named Cherry who just earned her place at EQUU8...thanks to an anonymous sponsor from Seattle who wants to help keep me going.
