Morgane & Cairo last fall

Girls and horses. It’s an age old love. I remember endlessly drawing horses when I was younger, and begging my dad to take me to the local barn for a weekly visit. I remember the smell of that barn, and a horse that I was hopelessly in love with named ‘Water Music’. I’m one of many women who has horses prancing through her childhood memories – check out Why Women Love Horses.

When we moved to Montana, I was thrilled that my daughter was going to have the chance to grow up with horses. And I was going to have the chance to fulfill my girlhood horse dream. Both things have played out in the most beautiful of ways, beyond what I ever imagined.

But at times, I wondered if horses were my daughter’s passion. Over the years she’s been nonchalant about the horse thing sometimes, and I’ve wondered if you take it for granted when it’s something that’s been available to you since you can remember. If the dreamy quality is absent, given the reality.

And then, she met her first horse love, named Cairo. She drew him, she dreamed about him. She had breakthroughs with him, including her first canter. I talked to him and told him how important it was that he take good care of my girl. He delivered. And now, a few years later, Cairo was for sale. And for many reasons, we didn’t buy him, a decision that still tugs at my heart strings. And just like that, he was on to his next home.

Cairo’s owner had thoughtfully prepared Morgane for this. On the day he left, she wrote her an email that explained he was bought by grandparents for their 12 year old granddaughter, who will learn to care for him before learning that he is hers when they tell her next spring. I hesitated to show her the email, worried that she would be sad, mad at me for allowing another girl to have him after all they’d been through together. Finally, I watched her as she read the email, waiting for the tears. Instead, she turned to me with a huge smile on her face: Mom, That’s so great! I am SO happy for him!


What?!?

And then, strangely enough, I was the one who ended up in tears over this.
I am grateful for life lessons from girls and horses. Yeehaw & Namaste.