I Went Riding Today.

My parents tell me a story about when I was a little kid and we went on a trail ride in the mountains. I was riding double with my Dad and I was so comfortable on the back of that horse that the movement lulled me to sleep, and I slept for the rest of the ride.
Not long after that I grew up on the back of a horse. I spent every available day at the barn with my friends and our horses. If I couldn't get a ride there I rode my bike, if the weather wasn't good we rode anyway. We couldn't get enough, we never tired of the horses.
Even when I was a bratty teenager if I had a disagreement at my house, people always knew where to find me-with my nose buried in my horses' neck. Horses are addicting. Ask any person that rides and they will tell you they never lose the desire to ride again, even if they haven't seen a horse in years. It just sits dormant in you until you have a ride and then you feel like a different person when you're done. I was just recently joking with a horseback riding friend of mine. We were saying that its obvious why we were such tough kids- we grew up bossing mammoth beasts around, getting tossed in the dirt, stepped on, kicked, bitten, and sometimes smashed. Talk about character building. Not many 10 year olds can get crushed under a horse, stand up bloody, and hop back on to do it again. We asked for it though. Cara and I used to play "Water Warriors" which was a game we invented down in our local stream. We would wait for the river to be up to the horses' chests and then we would stand facing each other about 100 feet apart. At the signal we would charge each other in the water and try to knock the other person off their horse. First person in the water lost. It was a great game until I almost drowned Cara and we stopped playing...but I would have made one hell of a jouster.
I went riding with Cara today. It was so beautiful, out in the middle of the plains with the mountains jutting out. We came to a bridal path that went straight and wide for a good stretch, so we raced. There is nothing more amazing than the feeling of galloping full speed on the back of a powerful horse. We take off and you feel them quickly getting speed, propelled from behind like there are two jet engines back there. Their bodies get low and their heads and necks stretch out. You lean forward (cause you want to win) and egg them on. You get a good grip on the reins just in case and you give them their head and just let them fly. You're neck and neck and you hear the sound of their eight hooves beating the ground. There is always a few seconds in a good race where you realize that you are going as fast as you can go, and that is when the danger sets in. You know that at this speed the horse cannot control their feet very well and one false step will send you flying at 30 miles an hour with a 1000lb animal close behind you. But there is something about all the other things combined with that momentary flash of fear that make it even more surreal. And then you have a choice- pull them up and feel safe, or push them on and give up the control. If you choose to push them on, you will feel more free in that 10 or so seconds than you have in years.
You know after a good ride like that, you have just gotten your therapy, and your fix.