My Little Girl

These Are Our Last Steps

May came and so did another dressage show, Mykal was hell on wheels at the show, it was almost funny how worked up Mykal was. The judge did not enjoy how I hang my tongue from my mouth so Mykal felt insulted. After getting many disrespectful comments about me Mykal rode her last test in a very funny way. We both had our tongues hanging from our mouths; all we could see was the judge mentally throwing a fit. About a week after our dressage show I got to go with the Friesians and my little girl for a trail ride of a lifetime. The adrenaline was pumping and our hooves were like drums, Mykal and I had a lot of fun, so much fun that we couldn't control ourselves at some points.  

The next weekend I was loaded into a trailer with three Friesians, my friend for the trip was Fitz, Aunt Ann’s dressage horse. Fitz was 12 years young and had plenty of stories about Mykal. He told me the story of how she got to ride him when she was 10, and how her legs were to short to touch his stomach. Fitz told me about his sisters Nadia and Rozlyn or as they called her Roz. They were the two that Mykal was always referring to as “the hell raisers” because of how they can act sometimes. As we got closer to our destination the mares began to get excited, Fitz had said that the place smelled familiar but he must have not been there in a year or so.

We arrived to be greeted by Lorna and Shelly. Shelly was the girl who originally trained me English. We were unloaded and tacked up. The mares were put in harness and Fitz and I in saddles. There were other carriages there; another pair of Friesians pulled only one. Once we got going Mykal and I were pretty much unstoppable. I galloped through a creek, ruining out girth and a stirrup leather, we crossed bridges, and tried carriage hazards. For such a fast paced day it ended on a quiet note. The Friesians and I grazed; while Mykal, Aunt Ann, Shelly, And Lorna ate lunch.

A week after our adventure with the Friesians, I had to have shards of teeth removed from my gums, it was extremely painful, but I got shot up with a steroid after so it was not to bad!

June came, so did the heat. After a lesson in the hunt field Mykal and I went for a trail ride to cool down. Mykal however did not cool down; it was as though I could feel her sweating through the saddle. Suddenly I felt that familiar feeling in Mykal’s body, I stopped. Next thing I knew Mykal was collapsed on my neck in the middle of a seizure, I as usual waited for the seizure to stop and prayed my little girl would sit up on my back, or even move. After minutes of no movement I knew I had to get her home, I began walking carefully down the trail until I got to a trail that would that would take us home. The back gate was closed and lord knows I cant open a gate even if it were to save my little girl’s life, so I walked next door and stood between two horses to see if my new found friends would wake Mykal up. The buckskin and dapple grey horses nudged her and licked her arms trying to wake her up, nothing worked until Mike came bounding over the fence.

 Mykal was off to camp, only three days after she left I found out that her seizures were getting the best of her, she had to leave her heaven on earth and would not be able to go back until her seizures were under control. I at the same time was not having health issues of my own that Mykal nor I knew about. The muscle in my back was decreasing at such a fast rate that by June 2014 Mykal would not be able to ride me. With Mykal’s permission Michaela began lounging me, I hated it at first, I would rear back with such force that I would almost fall backwards. When Mykal came home she cried when she saw me. She had needed me so badly and I had needed her.

Not even a week after she got home we were off to a horse show. This show would be different from the rest, I could tell. We unloaded the trailers and the adrenaline was already pumping through my little girl’s veins. In the warm-up ring it was as though nothing bothered her, except for the occasional “oh I’m letting my horse stick it’s ass out I hope it does not kick anyone” rider that makes Mykal mad.

Finally after half an hour of silence, except for speaking to our team mates Mykal spoke. “This is our last show in Washington Boo, lets show them what an Epileptic can do.” With that we finished our warm up and went to wait for our class to start, our equitation’s went on with out a bump, pulling a 1st and a 2nd, finally jumping came along. Our first two courses went by quickly, with out anything happening. Then before our last event Mykal took off her cooling vest and leaned to my head. “ This is it Boo, lets do this shit!” with that I knew we had to win this. As soon as we entered the ring we picked up the canter, we had both memorized the course making it easy. With every jump I picked up speed, by the last jump we were practically galloping and we didn't even notice Michaela asking us to slow down. We were having too much fun.

The end of the show came with a huge surprise for Mykal and I, we won grand champions of our division, this was something we never dreamed of, we were over the moon with excitement, however this excitement would be short lived.