You know how they say the best things in life are free? Well, I totally agree except for one tiny detail. The best thing in my life that was free has very easily become the thing I spend the most of my money on. Yes, I am talking about my horse.

Like most girls, I started liking horses in late elementary/early middle school. My notebooks were horses, my folders were horses, even in art class I wanted to just focuses on doing horse related work. I grew up knowing plenty of people with horses and even had some in my family. My mom's mom had one and her dad always had a few. We even had one when I was very young.

I guess you could say that I always had access to them, but unfortunately the horses that belonged to my family were all retired. I grew up loving them knowing that I couldn't ride. I remember going out into the pasture with my Nanny's horse (mom's mom), and just leading him around, loving on him, and pretending I knew what I was doing.

It wasn't until I was 16, or 17, that I was offered an opportunity to actually get to work with some horses. A friend of mine had a few and was in need of someone to work with at least one of them since she had so much on her plate. I quickly fell in love. I fell in love with that particular horse, yes, but I also fell for the relationships I made with these animals. They are so complex and unique, yet so similar to humans.

After a short period of time I was given the opportunity to have my own by a very generous lady. She had a horse whom she loved dearly but knew she didn't have time for. She had other horses that she needed to focus on and a child, a job, etc. She was willing to give him to the perfect home for free. I never considered myself to be the perfect home, as I am sure there were plenty of others with much more money who could have given him the lap of luxury. But she took a chance on me and I will never be more thankful.

Soon enough I was thrown into the horse world. Who has the best training techniques? Where do you want to go with him? Are you going to show? Are you going to ride English or Western? Why does he do that? You should train him to do this? And on, and on, and on. Like sports or politics, everyone had an opinion and everyone wanted to give their two cents. At first, I was trying to take it all in, trying to get my horse to cooperate with many different ideas and inevitably confusing us both and causing some frustration.

I will admit there had been times where I even considered selling him. But I'll tell you what, every single time he would give me a reason to fall in love all over again. I could never stay mad at him. He has always been so willing from the start, so patient. He was truly more than I could ever ask for and I am finally really feeling it. Wednesday the 21st, we had our first ever riding lesson. He had never participated in a lesson, to my knowledge and I had always been virtually self taught.

I have never been happier with him and our partnership. I realized that even though we have things to work on and sometimes we get frustrated, there is a way to get those mixed signals sorted out. In one hour, he and I went from being tense with each other and a little bullheaded on where to turn, how to turn etc, to turning perfectly with only the slightest suggestion. I would give him a nearly unnoticeable signal and he would carry it out effortlessly. We had never experienced this before. It was unadulterated teamwork and I was in love all over again. I felt like a little school girl.

I could go on and on about my horse and how much I love him but the point I really want to get at here is, it doesn't matter what your goal is, what your plan is, love your horse, work with him/her, never give up. You will get that breakthrough. I never expected to be spending so much on an animal. And honey, I'm not talking about money. (well, I am.. just a little).. No, what I am talking about is love. I am talking about time, effort, blood, sweat, and definitely tears. I never wanted anything more from him than good teamwork and a life of simple trail rides and we are definitely headed that way. So, you take that chance! Get the horse! Keep the horse that everyone says just isn't a good fit. Otherwise, you'll never know if maybe you were only trying to put the right boot on the wrong foot.