Thanks. We were a horse family for about 15 years. Our middle daughter started riding when we gave her a pony riding / training session for her fifth birthday. She fell in love and competed all the way through college. She was really good and won lots of first place trophies including the Northern California Pony Championship one year. We started her on a half-lease of a pony, then a full lease, which led to buying that pony and eventually graduating to a full horse. She was in hunter-jumper events and I was absolutely scared every time she jumped. But she was just gorgeous in her riding outfits and commanding her horse Bentley. They were an incredible pair together. I never missed a show where she competed and often went to watch her practice with her trainer.
Those were really wonderful times! Good memories.
Getting your horse to “join up” is one of the deepest bonds you can have. I miss my old Canadian mare, Jess. I used to go out to her stall and sing to her, amd she’d lower her head and her eyes would go all soft. She loved her dad, and we were all joind up. She would do for me. She was a good judge of character. She bit my ex on her ass one day.