Speaking with a teenage friend of mine this past weekend, she told me she went to a show.  I think it was her first.  It was just a backyard fun show, but to her it could have been the Olympics.  The smile on her face was beyond description.

Also this weekend one of my students mothers posted a picture of her daughter on one of my lesson horses, at one of her earliest shows.  I also saw a picture of her this past summer jumping her new horse over a three-foot spread with no bridle.  She moved away several years ago, but we still keep in touch and I am so proud of her progress.  It’s a little sad to see them growing up, but so wonderful to see and hear of their progress. The feeling of satisfaction knowing that I gave them their start is the best feeling in the world.

Do you remember your first ride?  Your first show?  Your first hunt? First time jumping or turning a barrel?  Think back and grab hold of that feeling of excitement.  It was such a high.  It totally sucked you into that black hole of total bliss.

I’m sorry, but making contact with a golf ball just can’t give you the same feeling.  Yes it’s nice when you hit that “sweet spot”, that’s what keeps you coming back again and again, but the endorphin release you get on the back of a horse just can’t compare.

Sometimes life gets in the way, or we just change and we no longer do those wonderful things we did when we were younger, or first started riding.  When things we used to love to do become a chore, we let them slide.  We get burned out, just like with everything else.  It’s such a shame.

My girlfriend who had several horses when we were young got out of it when she started having children, and her horses got old and crossed the “Rainbow Bridge”.  Going through 20 years of raising her family, she missed it but not enough to fit it in her life. She just closed that chapter and moved on.  Her children have grown and have families of their own and her husband just lost his battle with cancer.  Now she was dropped kicked into an empty life.  So what does a horse person do?  Pick up where she left off. She went and got back on a horse.  She was one of the “Blood and Thunder Riders”  you know, one of the kids I grew up with that did many stupid things that could have got us killed, but didn’t.

So that wow factor that got us hooked in the first place still exists in us somewhere.  I guess I’m just too comfortable to be wowed anymore.  It’s just too much work to get up early and go somewhere.  How sad is that.  I guess I’ll just settle for giving others the chance to experience the joy of it all.  I just loved seeing that smile that I saw this weekend.  It means I’m passing on a legacy that was passed to me many years ago.  But then, I could very easily be wowed again.

How about you?  Have you been wowed lately?