Here is a tribute to my mom and to the good things about growing up riding horses.
My friend and neighbor Kristin is of the Osiyo Native Oklahoma tribe and is attending a Pow Wow today! I saw her post and this inspired me to write the following...
Love for Ya'll and for all The Native American Tribes with ancient and amazingly beautiful cultures, the true natives of this continent!
"Aspiring Native American Cowboy & Equestrian Memories: The Magic & Mysticism of Riding"
Ever since I was able to first learn to read, my mother will tell you that the very first books I gravitated to at the library were books on the Native Americans and their Tribes: their history, paracties, rituals, clothing, tools, weapons, structures, culture, and everything else I could read about regarding native Americans, which even as a young child I read and understood were the original Americans, while we are the immigrants!
Reading what our European ancestor immigrants did to the natives cultures on our continent horrified me and made me cry as a young boy. I used to make teepees out of sheets, tried to learn the natives steps of the different dances from the books I read which had diagrams of the footprints drawn out for some observed traditional native ritual dances, would make pretend fires and try to do the dancers around the imaginary fire in my mind and try my best to do dances as properly as I could imagine them, and made my own bows and arrows and practiced archery. I still do archery to this day for the love of this amazing skill.
My parents informed me we have Blackfoot indian in our family lines fairly far back and only a small percentage for me now, but I have always loved and admired native american tribes cultures. I have always wanted to participate in a Pow Wow if I might ever be so honored as to be invited.
I rode horses and competed in equestrian events until I was 15 and rode an Appaloosa Arabian American Native Paint pony mix named "Sugar" (the best horse that ever lived, I am not kidding) , who along with my brothers all competing on Sugar in different age groups across both traditional western, rodeo, as well as English riding in competitions all over Texas, Sugar was ranked third in the State of Texas as the top performing Appaloosa Pony in the state when my brothers and I were just mere kids!
We received the honor of being invited to ride in the Fort Worth Stockyards and Rodeo Fair and parade in 1993 and were featured riding on the front page of the Fort Worth Star Telegram!
We have my mother to thank,
who who raised us riding horses, worked with us every day to teach us everything she knew about riding, and we grew up with mom sharing her love of horses with us and teaching us to love animals and value how amazing they are, and especially horses; one of the most intelligent, majestic, powerful, beautiful, graceful and loving animals ever to have humans as companions.
Even though we were poor, Mom enabled me and my brothers to experience the specialness of riding and all things equestrian growing up. We did not have much, but we did have horses! And despite all the bad things from back then, this made my childhood unforgettable with some truly memorable and unmatched moments and experiences.
I will never forget the experience of growing up riding, the amazing mental seemingly telepathic-like bond I shared with Sugar. After enough time riding together, your horse's mind and yours, along with their body and yours, eventually become integrated and intertwined in a very mystical and magical way,so much so that when you ride a greta horse and you know how to ride this horse the right way, you are actually one and the experience is very real where you know what she's thinking and she knows what you are thinking, and the slightest nudge of your toe or heel, the slighted movement of your hands, the lightest sounds you make, and she knows precisely what you're both doing in that next millisecond and all the seconds that follow.
When you ride for long rides that go on for hours, this experience is truly unmatched and therapeutic and all's right with the world in those moments.
I know the Native Tribes once they integrated horses into their culture became some of the most skilled rides in human history, and their horseback archery was equivalent or superior to that on the Mongolians and the Turks, who both conquered massive parts of the known world simply leveraging horses and horseback archery and their skills! I used to pretend I was a Native American on a Paint Pony riding the great plains before the settlers came and thought that must have been an amazing time to be alive and an amazing way to have lived!
I cannot express the love and camaraderie I felt for my Pony, Sugar. She was truly an amazing creature and certainly one of my first loves as a child along with my dog copper and my lop eared bunny, Sailor. Nothing beats growing up on a quasi farm, with animals to love, horses to ride, you mom to teach you how to ride and compete at the top of your game, and fields to ride and gallop in and a forest and a creek to play in! Growing up was tough back then, but these are some of my most cherished. Memories. Thanks Mom
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