Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Stubborn Iwe

There are two horses. One is a black beauty Ayu which is thin and easier to ride. And the other is a handsome white horse, named Iwe. Both are my favorites. But Iwe, his stubborn really stimulates my curiosity. Plus, Iwe's back is broader than Ayu and this does make him so comfortable to ride.

Sometimes, Iwe can be so naughty. It is very hard to tame him to put the bridle on. He knows what we are doing, saddling and bringing him to the paddock. He also knows who is new and afraid of him. As we get closer, he will be pretending not to finish eating yet. But as we give up, he stops eating. Such a naughty horse. To be honest, when it comes to groom him, Kiru will take over it. She is much braver than me. She calmly approaches him and put the bridle on his face. And I, cowardly stand on the far side.

Iwe can be restless too. There was one day when only Ayu was joining us for practice. From the paddock, we could see him inside the stable, lifting up and down his head as a sign of how much he eager to join us. But we just ignored him. Suddenly Dina shouted, "Iwe escaped!". All of sudden, Iwe already galloped wildly in the compound. He scooted around trying to get away from us. Luckily, Mahyas was there. She then sowed dried grass on the ground and tied a rope around Iwe's neck while he is eating it.

Once in a very blue moon, Iwe can be as fleet as deer. I just have to held the rein steady and do not hurry him. I ride him first slowly. When we are on the common I gave him a light touch with my whip, and we have a splendid trot.

Last Sunday, while cantering, I accidentally rolled down on the ground after Iwe suddenly fell down. Alhamdulillah, there was no serious injury. But, the incident did wake me up. Mas Doni told me that Iwe was still tired. He went for an enduring jungle tracking yesterday. After all, I believe that horse riding is just not grooming nor riding a horse. It is far more than that. It starts with mutual respect and trust between horse and human. We do rely on each other.

1 comments:

steve on the slow train said...

Kurt, I think you meant "horse and rider" rather than "horse and animal." I see you've discovered Patry Francis's blog, simply wait. If there's a better source of elegantly-written English on the Web, I don't know it. (Of course, it's the American variety of English.)

 
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