🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <1k4no2INN2gq@hpfcbig.sde.hp.com> lisa@fc.sde.hp.com (Lisa Stroyan) writes:

   ...  I don't currently have a horse, but I finally plan to get one
   this spring.  ...  However, it has
   taken me a while to overcome the doubts I get from others that don't
   understand my need for a horse.  My husband, alas, is not a horse
   person and is strongly entrenched in remaining that way (he has ridden
   several rental horses, to give him credit that is due).  (If anyone
   else has been frustrated that those around them don't understand, or
   are upset by, their horse interests, I would be interested in talking
   about possible workarounds!).

   Lisa Stroyan 	

My husband, Lynn, started out with the opinion that horses were at
best silly, and at worst dangerous.  I therefore began my equine
involvement by getting a donkey---we had lived next door to one at the
last place we had rented before buying our place, and Lynn had
remarked that that donkey had an interesting personality, and was much
more tractable, less spooky, etc than the horses it was in with.  Our
donkey, Shadow, convinced Lynn that equines could be fun, and after I
had trained Shadow to drive, I got Lynn to accompany us to various
driving events, first as my photographer, then as helper, cart
passenger, etc.  Eventually, I expressed a determination to get a
horse; Lynn chose to "humor me", i.e. kept any reservations to
himself, and co-operated in building a proper barn on our property.

At that point, I got lucky---I chose for my first horse an older,
bombproof Norwegian Fjord mare, Nansy.  After a suitable period of
adjustment, I talked Lynn into riding Nansy as a "pilot car" while I
drove the rather-timid Shadow at a couple of informal donkey club
events.  At first, his attitude was, "Sigh, well, OK...."  However,
after a while, when it came time to deploy Shadow and Nansy to/from
our pastures, he started asking, "Can I ride the pony?"  This soon
became, "*I* want to ride the pony!"  And, not long thereafter, "WHEN
are you going to get another horse?"  Apparently, Nansy had succeeded
in "infecting" Lynn with the "horse virus"!  The rest, as they say, is
history (see my earlier bio); in fact, his riding ability has now far
outstripped mine, and he is "pulling" me along.

What I'll never know is whether Nansy "converted an un-believer", or
if she just activated Lynn's dormant "horsaholic gene".  However, I
just thought I'd let you know that it can be done!  It does seem to
require finding the right equine partner(s) in your conspiracy....

Marsha Jo Hannah		Murphy must have been a horseman--
La Honda, CA			anything that can go wrong, will!