Horse Therapy

Every once in a while I get super overwhelmed with everything. I mean seriously… not sure why that would happen? Possibly because I have 4 kids and work as an ER doc, plus fitting in my riding time? This week it just seemed like everything was happening at once. The kids have been wild! As in over tired, getting sick and not sleeping well. Combine that with busy days at work – I don’t just mean busy as in tons of patients but that along with the high acuity, lethal arrhythmias, respiratory failure, heart attacks – all happening back to back makes for a huge adrenalin rush then crash. Typically days like that, particularly when piled up one after another, leaves me with poor coping skills at home. So you might wonder how do I fit in the horses? The truth is I NEED the horses!

Today was my day off so clearly I had to spend the whole day at the barn. No, really I did! I had to ride my two horses, clean tack that’s been neglected recently, do horse laundry (boots, wraps, saddle pads) and the farrier was coming. So you see it was a full day affair! Add to that the fact that I really wasn’t going to do very well interacting with other non-horse people today, so it was by far the best place for me. Dave, my trusted hound dog sidekick, and I stopped at Starbucks then headed to the barn.

First, I spent my time grooming Saltira. She was fairly dirty so this took a while. Her body is looking fabulous- really maturing with beautiful muscle on her top line. I’m sooo happy with how our work overall is going. My ride on her was great. I can’t believe how much she’s grown up recently! It’s starting to really feel like a partnership. Even if she was a bit up because of crazy wind, she was still trying her best for me.

After riding her and putting her away I then got Belle. She was a disaster- caked in mud and shedding like crazy! Good thing I love grooming! There’s something very relaxing about spending time grooming a horse. So today Belle was my like my therapy session. Don’t get me wrong, Saltira really helped me ground myself, getting away from the stresses of the rest of my life but grooming Belle took it to a whole new level.

Belle LOVES being groomed. As I curried her, the amount of hair coming off could have made a second horse. The dirt and hair fell away and started to reveal the shiny dark brown on her neck with golden points on her body and dapples on her rump. When she first came to me she had been out in a field with her thick winter coat. Now as she was shedding and starting to put on muscle…wow is she looking beautiful!!! I adore a dark bay with gold points and 4 white feet.

My friend, Roberta, was there at the same time getting her mare ready. We were chatting as we groomed our horses and I must admit- I’m a total dork. As I was going over Belle’s shiny coat one last time to get rid of any remaining dust and admiring her, I had to make Roberta come over and look at Belle’s beautiful gold points and dapples. There may have been some serious eye rolling on Roberta’s part. But, hey it’s the little things in life!  Like the moment when you can step back and admire the true beauty of your horse that makes all the stress and hard work worthwhile.

So after several hours of complete detachment from the rest of my life, it’s time to go home. The “mom guilt” is starting to kick in. If you don’t have children then you have no idea how powerful the “mom guilt” is and how real it is. However now I’m in a MUCH better place mentally/emotionally and am feeling so much more balanced emotionally. Just spending time at the barn, getting covered in dirt and horse hair makes all the difference to me. Equine therapy is a real thing and I’m incredibly thankful that I have these two wonderful horses.

Now back to taking care of my two legged babies and your average day of chaos in the ER saving lives….