How it all began

Greg asked me on our ride today if I would write about our first ride and the events leading up to it....

It’s a rare day when I’m not in my boots and jeans. When I say boots I am, of course, referring to Ariats – are there any others? I do own a pair or two of sexy knee-highs, but my Ariats are most often on my feet as I am usually riding before and/or after work at the hardware store and all the days in between. I am comfortable with them and the horse tattoo that too-often prompts the question, “Do you ride?” Or the statement, “You must like horses.” I forget which of these Greg used last summer, but I gave him the same indulgent smile and affirmative answer I hand off to everyone who approaches me this way. I grow weary of it, but it does offer me a way to connect to people and assert myself to them as more than just the girl at the hardware store, which is something my wild nature fights against at every turn. Usually it stops there, sometimes I am offered what I call ‘the usual’:

I rode a horse once, he ran me off under a tree.

I grew up with horses.

My cousin/niece/father-in-law rides.

They share their anecdotes, I smile and nod at the appropriate times, we move on. I snoozed through Greg’s spiel until he offered a motorcycle ride in exchange for a horse ride. –WHAT- That’s new. There are people I know who ask me for rides, but I’ve never been asked quite like that by a complete stranger – unless they are inquiring about riding lessons, which I offer, and those are usually by introduction. I resisted the urge to laugh as I turned down the motorcycle ride (does not interest me) and was going to turn him away completely but his ‘pluck’ entertained me and I took down his number, saying something about calling him when the opportunity to ride came along.

As I remember it a few months passed. I sold the sturdy little Mustang that Greg may have been able to handle and was left with my very green Quarter Horse mare and racing bred, very young Thoroughbred filly. I had all but forgotten about the umpteenth person who said he really did know how to ride when he ran into me at the store and brought it up again. As luck had it I had just reacquired a nice, quiet gelding who had been in my care before and I figured, on a whim, that I would give this guy a shot.

It was hunting season, so we had to haul away from my usual trails, which is just as well as they  can be challenging. It’s not that I thought Greg was lying, I just thought that his version of a “good” rider and mine were light years apart, as is usually the case. I saddled both horses…. No, I think Greg saddled Buster (the quiet gelding) and that was the first tick in his favor. If you “know how to ride” but can’t saddle a horse then you can’t ride. It shouldn’t even need to be said, but people never cease to amaze me.

Anyway, I got him on his horse and everything adjusted without incident. We headed down the trail and Buster, who is big and clumsy and lazy and adorable, trotted briefly to catch up to my mare. Low and behold there was Greg…. Posting. It was that moment that really got my attention. Had I actually found someone with the time, inclination, and ABILITY to ride? I ride with people several days a week and often several times in one day, but lessons don’t count. I can never work on my own horses, I must always be watching and coaching. Then there are my “favorite” riding buddies who are just as busy as I am, so it’s hard to connect. Greg is retired, and wants to ride, and doesn’t complain when I have to change plans at the last minute to accommodate a “paying gig”. He rides pretty much rain or shine, and helps a little more with the chores when my hands are in shades of blue.

Over our winter of riding I have discovered other things about Greg that have earned him a spot on the list of people I call to ride. He’s a great conversationalist, tells a good yarn, doesn’t mind when mother nature dumps buckets on us 6 miles into our ride, enjoys the thrill of finding a new trail almost as much as I do, appreciates the horses as they are and for what they are, and he gave me this really great book that has lit a fire under my ass to get living!