What are you thankful for this year? That’s the question we asked EN readers for the 2018 Thanksgiving Challenge from World Equestrian Brands, and your responses were numerous and heartfelt. Over the holiday weekend, we are honored to share your special stories. You can view an archive of them here.
Photo courtesy of Kayla McCoy.
Kayla McCoy: This year I’m very thankful for getting back in the saddle. In 2017, I ruptured my gastroc tendon which made me unable to ride for almost a year. Now I am able to ride again and will be able to begin competing again next year. I am also thankful for my job that I was offered this year. It is an amazing experience to train the endangered Cleveland Bays. Also for all of the opportunities my employer has given me with taking me to shows and letting me foxhunt with her! A special thank you to Riverspring Cleveland Bays and to all of the people that have supported me getting back to what I love!
Winslow and Will: “I’m not sure if it’s a coincidence, but both of them are solid dark bays.” Photos courtesy of Maggie Hitron.
Maggie Hitron: This year I am thankful for my horse, Winslow. When my heart horse, Will, tragically died in 2012, I knew that I would never find another horse like him. I was convinced that heart horses are a rare blessing, like a soul mate, and it’s a one per person type of deal. When yours comes and then goes after what feels like much too short of time together, that’s it — you’re done. You should be happy for the time you had together, because some people never find the one special horse that sings to their soul on the deepest of levels.
This past year has proven to me how very wrong I was, and I am so thankful for that. I met Winslow in December of 2016 when I responded to an ad I found on Facebook for a free horse, but it wasn’t until sometime this year that I realized that over the past two years, he’s become more than just another horse to me. Winslow can still be the athletic, opinionated horse with a bad attitude that I initially brought home, but even these traits have become endearing to me. I’ve loved, and still do love, the horses I’ve had since losing Will. But Winslow has become so special to me and has filled the hole in my heart that I didn’t realize was still there.
Every morning that I hunt him down in a dark field to bring him in, every evening when I clean his stall, every day that I swing my leg over his back, I thank my lucky stars that I found Winslow. I think having had Will, and lost him, has made my experience with Winslow all the sweeter. Thankfulness just doesn’t seem like an adequate feeling to describe the all-encompassing feeling of gratefulness that I have every time I take a step back and realize how lucky I am to have found a second heart horse.
Photos courtesy of Sabrina Salley.
Sabrina Salley: At 16 pain became my closest acquaintance when I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. If you aren’t familiar with it, fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder of unknown cause that leaves me in chronic, constant, severe pain. At 16 I had to face the harsh reality that there is no cure to my condition, and that until a cure or treatment is found I will live at a constant 7-10 on the pain scale. Every day I wake up to a different body — some days I wake up and I am sore in my hips, but otherwise fine. Some days my roommate or sister has to help me get out of bed and get dressed for class.
This year I am thankful for my support system — my friends, my family, my horses, my boyfriend. They have helped me accomplish my dreams- from riding at USPC Championships to attending the school of my dreams. I am thankful that every day I wake up and need help there is always someone willing to lend me a hand, whether that be reminding me to do my assignments or bringing me food because I’m curled up on a migraine day. I am blessed to have friends that will do anything for me to help me live my dreams, including lend me their fancy warmblood so that I could break my 6-year bad luck streak and ride at USPC Championships East.
As I look back on this year I realize how many goals I’ve achieved of mine — placing in the top 10 at Championships, earning my H-A/H-M certification in Pony Club, being valedictorian of my high school class, riding a Pas de Deux with my twin sister, going to the last Warped Tour with my friends, doing well in my first semester at my dream college … all because of my support system. Every day I am grateful for the sacrifices my parents have made for me to continue to ride, working long hours and using their vacation time on competitions, feeding our collection of misfits and doing whatever they need when they hurt themselves.
This year has been incredible, and every day I am thankful for this life I live and the people I get to spend it with. Life isn’t easy for anyone, and we all need our support network to get through the hard times. I will spend my Thanksgiving break studying for finals, riding my heart horse, and laughing with my friends and family. How will you spend yours?
Photo by Nicole Garrison, courtesy of Emma Young.
Emma Young: I squirt a big, green, wet blob of epsom salt poultice onto my horse’s hoof. Then I grab the roll of vet wrap and quickly wrap it before my horse gets bored with the whole ordeal. Next I slide his hoof into his boot. I pause for a second before I unclip him from the crossties. I give his left hoof, his abscess, a dirty glare before realizing all the reasons I should be thanking it instead.
For one, I’m thankful it’s only an abscess. When my horse came in for dinner on the cold first night of November, he was three-legged lame. I had never seen him in so much pain. In the half an hour it took the vet to reach us, I fretted over the possibilities of what could be wrong. What if he broke something? What if he has laminitis? What if I can never ride him again? What if..? My thoughts got more irrational by the minute. I will never be more thankful in my life to hear that my horse has an abscess than I was that night, because it could have been so much worse.
I’m also thankful that his many abscesses this year have allowed me to become quite good at wrapping hooves. I know how to soak hooves, apply poultice, and wrap vet wrap better than I ever thought I could. Before this year it would take me sometimes half an hour to do one hoof. Now, thanks to abscesses, I can do it in under five minutes.
While I haven’t been able to ride or compete my horse near as much as I had hoped to this year, these abscesses have allowed me to spend more time with him in other ways. Days that I normally would have been schooling dressage have now been spent grooming his coat to a shiny perfection. Days that we normally would have set up a gymnastics line, we have shared quiet moments while I take him on hand walks and let him eat the grass that always seems to be greener outside his pasture. Days that we may have trailered away for a lesson or a fox hunt, we instead hung out in his stall; him munching hay and me singing him songs or telling him the latest news in my life. His abscesses have allowed us to get to know one another in a different way. I will always be thankful for the calm afternoons these abscesses brought us.
Finally, I thank his abscesses because they have given me opportunities to ride more horses. While my guy was sidelined, I got to show both my trainer and her friend’s horses. I got to hunt several people’s horses in my hunt club too. I would have loved to have taken my horse to all these shows and hunts this year, but taking others is an opportunity I’m truly blessed I received.
