Back on Track ‘Horse Therapy’: Horses That Save Us

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Sometimes your horse is there for you when it seems that the rest of the world has turned its back. Susan Smith shares her story.

Horses will always be an important part of my life. But there is one horse that saved me.

He was a 16-hand OTTB, and I was a 10-year-old girl. Everyone at the barn thought my mom was crazy for buying me this huge horse, but my mom saw in my eyes that it was LOVE. We bonded immediately, and I spent every minute at the barn with him.  We played hide and seek, raced in the pasture, jumped anything we could find, and napped together in his stall.

Fast-forward 5 years: I still have my chestnut bestie, and my parents are divorcing. Dad says the horse HAS TO GO. Thankfully my mom stood up and fought for him. Through all of my parents’ fights, name calling, court battles, police visits and many tears, there was always one steady friend: my horse. When I was old enough to leave home at 18, I packed my things and his, and we left. I kept my best friend until the day he died in my arms when I was 28.

I still have a piece of his mane that I keep in a picture frame collage in my room. I will treasure the memories of him and the lessons I learned from him forever. I pass on his teaching to my current OTTB, and there will be a piece of him in every horse I learn with in the future.

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Here at Horse Nation, we believe that the best therapists are our own horses. We love sharing the stories of special equines and the lessons horses have taught us — email yours to [email protected] to be featured in an upcoming edition of Back on Track “Horse Therapy.” Go Back on Track, and Go Riding!

Tuesday Video From Dubarry: ‘War Horse’ Behind the Scenes

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The equine puppets of War Horse are impressive … but how do they work? Check out this behind the scenes look!

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The feat of engineering required to design and create these life-size equine puppets is amazing, to say the least — but truly bringing them to life takes teamwork and an innate understand of how horses move and behave. Though the metal framework is clearly just a beautifully-executed and elaborate prop, it’s also inexplicably alive, thanks to the talents of the three actors required to play Joey, the title character.

Of course, having believable “equine” actors is critical to a play centered around horses, so it makes sense that these actors have the movements and sounds of a horse down pat. But as any horse lover knows, it’s the little movements that show a horse’s personality — and the actors have figured that out as well. So well, in fact, that several real horses have been duped, at least temporarily, by Joey.

The full story on how the puppets were developed can be found in the documentary Making War Horse, which HN reviewed in 2012.

Ever seen War Horse live on stage? What did you think of the experience?

Go riding!