Horseback I become something different, and with me on his back, I believe my horse is just as changed. Together we are another animal entirely. I like this other animal so much I have built my life around being it as much as possible.
As a day rider, sort of a freelance cowboy, I spent a great deal of time in the saddle and most of it alone. In Oregon main riding contract involved using low-stress stockmanship to manage grazing on a 140,000 acre forest allotment with hundreds of miles of sensitive riparian areas and a growing wolf population. It remains one of the most beautiful, least populated and wildest landscapes left. The work required a lot of my horses, but I think just like myself, they found purpose in our partnership and in doing a job that regularly tested our limits. |