I have heard that line a few too many times. I guess it’s meant to be funny. I was flattered once when a vet said it to introduce me. That got a smile.

The least flattering time I heard this re-incarnation plan was while I was rubbing mineral ice on my horse’s inner thigh. He had torn a muscle and was in his second month of stall rest. The man who said it thought he was Columbus in the New World, and a total laugh riot. Arf, Arf- my humor was lost a week into our forced rest and recuperation.

It isn’t that I was unaware of the humor in my compromised position- especially if it isnt your hand and your horse. But like I said, I was humorless that day. Instead I got mental!

Could he really want to come back as my horse? You know there is more to it than mineral ice and carrots, right? Are you willing to work hard- day after day, season after season, year after year- can you commit to that? Can you be that vulnerable -physically and emotionally? Are you willing to build a trust so deep that it will carry the two of us- high and light as a thought? Will you hold my life as strongly and gently as I hold your life? When all is said and done, will you try one more time? Will hearing me say, “Good boy!” make you try even more? Do you really want to be my horse?

(Whoa! Do I sound like Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men?)

Reconsider, Brother. Mineral ice isn’t expensive. By the time dreams and commitment work their way into reality and all the surface trappings fall away- what’s left is precious. Trust is something some of us riders and horses take pretty seriously.

“At its finest, rider and horse are joined not by tack, but by trust. Each is totally reliant upon the other. Each is the selfless guardian of the other’s very well being.” – Author Unknown

You would have to be pretty ambitious to want to come back as my horse. I think it might be smarter to come back as my cat. Or better yet, my goat- now there is a lifestyle to relax back and enjoy. And I know they would appreciate your sense of humor.

Anna Blake, www.AnnaBlakeTraining.com

(Photos: Top- Leslie and her horse, Namaste. Below: Elvis and Sumo in the pool.)