Free the Spirit

Where Ya Going?

I used to lease a fabulous quarter horse named Bert. Sure, he was a bit over weight, but he is just the sweetest horse you will ever meet.

The girl that owned him was a friend of mine. We were out at the farm one time and she decided to teach me how to swing up onto Bert bareback, just a halter. Keep in mind, Bert is extremely calm. You could be hanging sideways off his neck and he would just stand there (yes, I actually saw my friend hanging off if his neck like this!).

So, the way she was teaching me to swing up was to run at Bert and jump. I had a lot of trouble with this at first, but I eventually got it.

One day, I was out at the farm after a ride, and was practicing jumping up. After a couple tries, I successfully got up onto Bert's back, and sat on top if him while he ate grass.

After about ten minutes, Bert lifted his head and started walking somewhere. (You should know that you have to go down a short alley way-like bit to get to Bert's pasture, or else this next part won't make any sense.)

Bert walked in the direction of his pasture. At the start of the "alley", I tugged on the lead rope slightly to get him to stop.

"Where ya going, bud?" I asked him.

He looked at me for a second and then continued on down the "alley".

(At the end of the "alley" there is a gate that leads to a pasture, and Bert's is connected to that one.)

So Bert walked us all the way to the gate at then end of the "alley".

"Whatcha doing, bud?" I asked.

Bert looked at me.

"Do you want me to get off?"

Bert nudged the chain on the gate with his nose.

I hopped off of his back and went beside his face. "Lets get you home," I said, and Bert did that nodding thing that horses sometimes do.

He took me to exactly where he was wanting to go and told me exactly what he wanted me to do. If anyone ever says that horses don't think, or don't have a brain, they are dead wrong.