I Totally Get It

There was this book that came out in the early 90s, Colt, by Nancy Springer, about a 10 year old boy with spina bifida who is forced into a therapeutic riding program and ends up falling in love with the horses. On a tangent, the other day I was getting in the shower and started wondering why it's "therapeutic" riding and not an adaptive sport. Blind skiers, wheelchair track stars, murderball players, are all involved in "adaptive sports" not "therapeutic sports". Are we crip riders not athletes too?

Anyway, back to the book, possibly my all time FAVORITE book (no longer in print). I can't remember how many times I've read it. A crip kid who rides. HEAVEN.

In the beginning of the book Colt, the main character, gets wheeled against his will and plopped in front of a full size horse. Kind of right under his head. And he was scared. So scared he has a panic attack I guess.

My whole life I've always gone to the barn on foot. When I was little with a walker I rode teeny tiny ponies, when I was bigger, bigger horses. Since I was always standing, I was always taller then the horse's back. While I was scared when I was 3, they were never looming over me.

Last Monday was a GORGEOUS day. After snomagedden a month ago, I just had to get out. So I went to the barn. The barn located on another college's campus, only 2/3mi from me. All these years I've lived here, I've never gone over there. So I rolled there of course, a quick trip, and sat in one of the barns with a large horse's head looming over me from way down there.

And I got it. I could see how someone might be scared of horses when approaching them from that angle. They look so much bigger. Especially unfamiliar ones where you don't know their temperament. I could see how someone might be afraid of being whacked with a head or trampled with a hoof.

Never try to pet a horse you don't know, they might try to bite you if they happen to be a nasty horse. Or really scared of a wheelchair if they've never seen one before. One was scared of the clicking noise. So I didn't. I sat and looked up and talked to them until my neck hurt from looking up for so long.

It was a good day.