Gal, the young horse man

Gal is scraping the water off of

the old mare Yochevet after showering her

The way that I view horses as excellent educators of children, is nothing new for the ones who loyally follow this blog. This week I have so far been in the stable every day, and today the kids were on our lot, so we decided that I would bring 5,5-years old Gal with me. Ziv is 10 now, and big enough to stay home alone, and he is neither that interested in the horse thing. Gal is instead, during his good moments, a very nurturing child, who likes animals a lot, as well as caring for them. On the other hand, he is the victim of two over-protecting "curling parents", who have pampered him into a quite dependent and demanding young boy. These two character traits in combination, made me realise that he is a perfect prospect for a young horse rider.

Yoram dropped us off this morning, and in the beginning Gal was following me around and I showed him the place. Then I started riding horses, so he had to take care of himself. The stable was full of kids his age, as well as teenagers and adults, so he was hardly alone - rather surrounded by more or less experienced people with whom he could create new and neutral relationships with. After a few hours I found myself "forgetting" all about him, and he did his own thing. I took him for a short ride on a horse, and later when I was riding again, another woman also took him for a ride. Other than that, he told jokes to the other kids, petted goats and Guinea pigs, and as the day was almost over I was looking for him, and discovered him showering one of the horses together with another young girl. She was explaining how to do, and he was listening eagerly. Then he scraped the water off of the horse like he never did anything else.

I think that his spine grew more today then it has during his whole life. Parents need to cut the cord and let their kids grow independent. Parents who are not used to horses, are furthermore often banned from hanging around in the stable. They simple do more damage than good, by getting hysterical as soon as a horse lifts a foot. Gal even functioned better when I let go off him and let him interact with the other people in the stable, although I am not his mother. He is still too young to start riding in a group, but next year he will definitely start. Some of the kids that has started this year, are not taller than Gal, or more mature for that matter, although they are above 6 years old.

To summon the day, Gal spent 6 hours running around in a stable, in 35 degrees heat, rode two different horses, and even trotted a little bit, showered and groomed a horse. All of this without complaining or whining even once. I can also mention that when we came home, he showered on his own and ate his lunch with good appetite, including a variety of vegetables.

I have a draft in my head for a blog post with the working name "Aikido vs. horse riding", about the similarities, but I am not sure when it actually will be written. Today Gal took up all my writing spirit, after a tough day.