Meet Fritha.
Fritha saved my sanity.
I grew up with horses. As a young child I was absolutely in love with my parents draft horses. Our old Belgian gelding Fritz used to baby sit me. When I was old enough, my mother got me a lovely cantankerous Welsh pony. Amos taught me much about horsemanship and riding, and much more about patience, and the importance of taking a grain bucket into the pasture with you to catch a pony. Then came Drum. Those of you who know me, know Drum, even if you never met him. I spent most of my teen years on that horse, and I loved every minute of it. Drum's death seemed to sap the joy I took in horses right out of me. I eventually let horses slide from my life.
Fast forward 7 years. My mother, the horse woman who taught me so much has died, and I'm suffering from depression. I've become a mother, a wife, but I am no longer the one thing that has always brought me peace...a horse woman. My best (human) friend has bought a Friesian colt, my dream horse, another good friend Tamara, is raising the most beautiful Barb horses. I'm ashamed to admit, part of me was jealous. I longed for a horse. I was terrified of getting one. Then Tamara, who is a true friend, and understands the horsey longing, offered to breed me my very own Barb foal! I was excited, and scared. If you read her blog, you will understand what a fabulous horse woman she is. What if I couldn't get my skills back. What if I made a mess of the beautiful horse she entrusted to me. For all my fear and confusion on the subject, I was also somewhat distanced from the idea. I was very depressed at the time, and afraid to get my hopes up about a foal. When the news came that Sandstorm had lost the foal, it hurt, but Tamara said we could try again the next year. On some level, I think I believed I would never have a horse again, so I accepted it. Then Tamara contacted me with a video, that I swear to this day looked like a baby moving around inside Sandstorm. We weren't sure if she had not lost the baby before after all, or if she had aborted a twin, or even if Insider had re bred Sandstorm. Regardless, I had a baby on the way, and this time I was excited, no scratch that, I was over the moon. Everyone saw that video. I'm afraid I inflicted it on every single co-worker to pass by my desk. I started buying horsey gear. I arranged board. I arranged hay. I was set. Sandstorms due date came and went. No baby. We waited, but no sign of baby, and no sign of pregnancy. This time I was devastated. My hopes had been sky high. I was ready to have a horse again, still scared to death of messing it all up, but ready. I could have waited a year. Trudged on in depression, and started out with a baby, scared to death of messing it up. I'm so very glad that's not what happened.
Enter Fritha.
I decided since I had everything set up to get a horse this year, that I should go ahead and get a horse, but what kind of horse. I wanted a horse that my husband might be able to ride eventually. My husband is a large man, so it had to be a solid horse. My husband is also afraid of heights, so it couldn't be too tall a horse. I went looking for draft crosses. It was a real eye opener to take a look around the Internet for horses. I soon had leads for a number of horses, but none of them seemed right. Then I saw an ad for a horse named Jasmine a four year old Percheron/QH cross.
Fritha saved my sanity.
I grew up with horses. As a young child I was absolutely in love with my parents draft horses. Our old Belgian gelding Fritz used to baby sit me. When I was old enough, my mother got me a lovely cantankerous Welsh pony. Amos taught me much about horsemanship and riding, and much more about patience, and the importance of taking a grain bucket into the pasture with you to catch a pony. Then came Drum. Those of you who know me, know Drum, even if you never met him. I spent most of my teen years on that horse, and I loved every minute of it. Drum's death seemed to sap the joy I took in horses right out of me. I eventually let horses slide from my life.
Fast forward 7 years. My mother, the horse woman who taught me so much has died, and I'm suffering from depression. I've become a mother, a wife, but I am no longer the one thing that has always brought me peace...a horse woman. My best (human) friend has bought a Friesian colt, my dream horse, another good friend Tamara, is raising the most beautiful Barb horses. I'm ashamed to admit, part of me was jealous. I longed for a horse. I was terrified of getting one. Then Tamara, who is a true friend, and understands the horsey longing, offered to breed me my very own Barb foal! I was excited, and scared. If you read her blog, you will understand what a fabulous horse woman she is. What if I couldn't get my skills back. What if I made a mess of the beautiful horse she entrusted to me. For all my fear and confusion on the subject, I was also somewhat distanced from the idea. I was very depressed at the time, and afraid to get my hopes up about a foal. When the news came that Sandstorm had lost the foal, it hurt, but Tamara said we could try again the next year. On some level, I think I believed I would never have a horse again, so I accepted it. Then Tamara contacted me with a video, that I swear to this day looked like a baby moving around inside Sandstorm. We weren't sure if she had not lost the baby before after all, or if she had aborted a twin, or even if Insider had re bred Sandstorm. Regardless, I had a baby on the way, and this time I was excited, no scratch that, I was over the moon. Everyone saw that video. I'm afraid I inflicted it on every single co-worker to pass by my desk. I started buying horsey gear. I arranged board. I arranged hay. I was set. Sandstorms due date came and went. No baby. We waited, but no sign of baby, and no sign of pregnancy. This time I was devastated. My hopes had been sky high. I was ready to have a horse again, still scared to death of messing it all up, but ready. I could have waited a year. Trudged on in depression, and started out with a baby, scared to death of messing it up. I'm so very glad that's not what happened.
Enter Fritha.
I decided since I had everything set up to get a horse this year, that I should go ahead and get a horse, but what kind of horse. I wanted a horse that my husband might be able to ride eventually. My husband is a large man, so it had to be a solid horse. My husband is also afraid of heights, so it couldn't be too tall a horse. I went looking for draft crosses. It was a real eye opener to take a look around the Internet for horses. I soon had leads for a number of horses, but none of them seemed right. Then I saw an ad for a horse named Jasmine a four year old Percheron/QH cross.
I liked the look of her right away. She looked solid, with a nice stocky draft build. I liked her owner almost instantly upon talking to her, and the more we discussed the mare, the more sure I became that this horse was going to be the one. She was going to an interesting training prospect. She had 30 days training on her, and had been ridden, but from everything the owner said, none of it had stuck with her, and she was going to need to be started over again. I admit this sounded intriguing to me, but I tried to keep my options open. I went and saw another horse, and contacted more people about their horses. Finally I got my chance to go meet Jasmine. I won't say it was love at first sight, but it was pretty darn close. Maybe it was more, that my inner horse ear, the one that I swear can sometimes hear a horse thinking perked up and started quivering. This mare spoke to me, loud and clear. Within moments of meeting her, she was telling me exactly what she needed. I didn't have to dig it out of her, and I didn't have to strain myself to hear. Jasmine came home with me, and was given a new name Fritha.
So now I have a horse again, now I have my therapy. Fritha is like magic in my life.
I hope to share here in this blog, about the magic that is Fritha in my life, about learning the horse world again as a re-rider, about rediscovering the truth in the wonderful training that my mother instilled in me, and most of all about the journey that Fritha and I have together.
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