The Equine Protection Program

Okay, so you can ignore the title because I seriously couldn't think of anything better...but it will be explained later on in this post. But before you get to the good stuff, I get to torture you with a survey that you must read in it's entirety before hearing about...dun dun dun...the dream!:

Name: Brianna of courseeee

Age: 15

Years Riding: like 1.5 now (wish it was more!)

About Your Horse:

If you don't have a horse of your own, do a favorite school horse!)

Name: Scotty

Show Name: --Unknown--

Color: Strawberry roan appaloosa

Breed: I should probably find that out

Markings: Abnormal blaze (haha it's so cute) two socks & two stockings

Gender: Gelding

Age: I should probably find that out too, huh?

Do You Know How To...

Braid?: nah

Band?: nope

Pick out a hoof?: yep

Muck a stall?: of course

Sit a trot?: yup

Post to a trot?: yessir

Jump?: somewhat

Load a horse into a trailer?: not exactly haha

Bridle a horse?: yeesssS

addle a horse?: mhmm

Lead a horse?: uh huh

Clean tack?: bridle yes, saddle no

Check for lameness?: only if it's really obvious

Canter?: yup

Groom a horse?: mhmm

Prepare for a show?: i have a good idea

Put on a winter blanket?: ehh

Mix your horse's feed?: not really

Pull a mane?: I think so

Clip a horse?: yesss

Braid a tail?: I've tried but it hasn't worked yet haha :)

Start a foal?: nah

Ride a bucking horse?: sure

Ride a rearing horse?: nope lol

Lunge a horse?: never tried

Compete in a showmanship class?: not yet

Compete in a trail class?: nah

So, what do you do? nothing as of now, gonna get into jumping though hopefully :)

Ride trails?: sometimes. they bore me unless they're super exciting

Show?: not yet

Just ride for fun?: Sometimes :)

Pleasure (Western Pleasure, HUS)?: i ride english, not western

Dressage?: ick no

Jumping?: soooonnn :D

Equitation? meh

Horsemanship?: nope

Bareback?: mhmm

Speed/gaming?: no

Cross country?: hopefully in the future

Mounted shooting?: i'm not into that

Battle reenacting?: no, that either

Foxhunting?: nooo

Endurance?: nah

Roping?: nope

Cutting?: it looks like fun but once again I don't ride western

Bronc riding?: i would never

Ride-and-tie?: nahh?

Saddleseat?: no

Sidesaddle?: eww no

Driving?: nah

Thoroughbred racing?: i like it but don't participate in it

Standardbred racing?: nopeee

Another kind of racing (e.g. Quarter Horse)?: nah

Polo?: polo's intense, but no

Polocrosse?: huh?

Vaulting?: vaulting is cool! still no

Leadline?: nah

Halter?: no

Showmanship?: nope

Lead-in trail?: no

Now for some random stuff!

How many years have you been riding?: one and a half or something like that

Is your horse shod?: I dunno?

Do you know anything about natural horsemanship?: little bits & pieces of info. :)

What discipline have you not tried that you'd like to try?: xc

When was the last time you fell off?: when Blue bucked me off :(

Have you even fallen off before? chyeah, multiple times

Who was the first horse you ever rode in a lesson?: (where I'm riding now?) Cori

How old was the oldest horse you've ever ridden?: in the 20's

What about the youngest horse?: No clue

Have you ever handled a stallion?: Mhmm

What about a foal?: nope

What do you think about helmets?: they keep my head in one piece, so I like them

Do you like giving your horse a bath?: Yeahh it's fun :D

Is your horse really hot, really calm, or somewhere in the middle?: In the middle. Scotty's spooky.

Does your horse spook a lot?: yeahh, see above. he freaks over tiny things.

Have you ever used your horse's tail brush on yourself?: not yet haha

Have you used one of those groomer stones?: ???

Have you ever ridden along a road?: yup, a few times. it attracted some strange looks from people driving by lol.

Have you ever ridden into a body of water?: if a flooded bridge counts, then yeah :)

Do you like grooming your horse?: yessssssss!

Have you ever fallen off at a show?: nope

Do you like petting your horse's nose? yeah :P

Has a horse ever fallen on you?: no, but it's bound to happen sometime.

Have you ever ridden...?

An Appaloosa?: Scotty is an Appy!

A Quarter Horse?: Think so

A Thoroughbred?: nope

A Mustang?: Want to!

A pony?: Mhmm, Littleman :3

A horse over 16 hands?: maybe a 16 hh horse, not over though.

A Shire?: nope

A Percheron?: no

A Clydesdale?: nah but it would be nasstyy :)

An American Saddlebred?: Maybe?

A Morgan?: YES. Morgans are fast little buggers.

More random stuff time!

Do you own a pair of breeches?: like 3 pairs haha

Have you ever walked without stirrups?: of course

Trotted without stirrups?: mhmm

Cantered without stirrups?: nope

Jumped without stirrups?: not yet

Have you ever ridden without reins?: yup!

In your first lesson, were you put on a lunge line?: yeah, but not at where i'm riding now.

Have you ever had a lesson on the lunge line?: uhh no?

Do you like psycho horses?: well they can be entertaining haha.Do you like sturdy, reliable horses?: I like a challenge, but I also need to be able to trust my horse. so for the most part, yes.

Is your horse good about having his/her feet lifted?: NO. Scotty has ouchie feet, and he's bothered by them being lifted :(

Is your horse's mane wild? naahhh

Will your horse ground tie?: ???

What color is your saddle pad?: i always use a red one :)

What color is your horse's halter?: leather (brown)

What color lead rope do you have?: i don't own any, but the barn has like 2390283922 million

Have you ever given your horse Gatorade (or something like that)? nope. but i hear they like it!Does your horse switch his tail and hit you?: sometimes accidentally in the stall. it hurts haha.

Have you ever been to a breed show?: nahh

Are you in 4-H or Pony Club?: nope

What color is the manure fork that you use most often?: nothing specific

Do you prefer straw or felt hats?: uhh neither haha

What color breeches do you like most?: my black oneeess :)

Have you ever won a belt buckle?: nuh uh

Do you ever carry a crop?: sometimes

Do you ever wear spurs?: never

What color is the barn?: brown

Yeah, okay, so now that you're officially bored, I'll start explaining about the dream I had last night. It was highly interesting, and it had a lot of meaning to me. You'll see why:

I was walking down a city road in the middle of the night with Scotty (the horse of course!). We turned into a dark alleyway that held no light at all, yet we continued to proceed down it anyways. It was littered with garbage and I just wanted to get out of there and get home as soon as possible. So we kept walking but I heard a slight noise behind me and I can barely make out the face of a man leaning on the fence behind me. He is fat and bald and covered in grease stains, and looks like he belongs in the cooking area of a fast food resteraunt. Startled by seeing him there I stop for a split second with Scotty still by my side and gasp because I see a long, sharp knife in his hand. I start to walk away again, quicker this time, but keeping my eyes on the man. He tells me in a gruff voice that he was just cutting things with the knife (trying to reassure me that he wasn't going to hurt me) but I could tell he was lying just by his voice and looking at his eyes. I started to jog away quickly and turned the corner. I could hear the man following, so frantically I step up on a crate and then in just a moment I am on Scotty's back and we are galloping away. This is the end of the dream, but the galloping lasts a few moments and it is just the best feeling I have ever experienced. I feel like all of my worries are shedding away and that nothing can catch us.

The symbolicism hidden in there can be interpreted in a few ways, atleast in my opinion. It shows that even in times of fear and trouble, having a horse can help you get through it. Horses are the best animals there ever were, and I can feel a huge connection with them whenever I'm around them. I also see it as, when I'm riding or when I'm with Scotty I don't have to worry about anything other than having fun or just enjoying my time there. Lastly I can also see it being interpreted as the feeling of freedom someone gets when they're riding, the ability to be carefree and unafraid. Just sitting in the saddle gives you an enormous amount of courage and a feeling of security. You probably have no idea how much I love horses and being with them and riding, or know how any of these emotions feel when it comes to horses, but it is the most important thing to me (other than Jesus, family & friends, of course!) and only other horse people can understand that kind of feeling.