My Little Pony Apatchie

When I was a child, I had a huge fascination with horses. This could have been due to the fact that aunt and uncle had a horse farm in Milton, Ontario. While growing up I was always told that once I was old enough and big enough, my aunt would teach me to ride. By the time I reached an old enough age, my aunt and uncle could no longer keep the farm or the horses due to medical reasons. Of course, I was so upset; I loved the horses and the country home they had.

Once I hit my early 20's, I was traveling to see a friend. She had introduced me to some of her friends. I tend to make friends quick and easy. One of her friends had someone that was visiting them and we hit it off. After my two-week vacation was up, I started seeing the person I met through her friend.

The first time I went to go and see him, I didn't know that I would be going to a horse farm. It was a beautiful farm and the house was a gorgeous century home. I fell in love with the place quick. It was a huge piece of land, with lots of woods to go through, a huge cornfield that surrounded the house and farm. Even the paddocks were huge and filled with lots of tree's and running space for the horses. This is where I first met my pony Apatchie!

When I first met my pony Apatchie, I loved him from the start. Tammy, the mother of the guy I was seeing, offered to teach me how to ride, and care for horses. I learned so much from her. Every day, she would wake me up at 6:00 AM to start our day.

The day started by taking the horses to the paddocks. I usually only took Apatchie, since she was trying to start me off with a horse that was already broken. Apatchie loved being out in the paddock and would rarely give me a hard time. He usually just slowly walked behind me to the paddock. Once in the paddock, Tammy and I would walk back to the barn to get their food for the day. This involved getting a wheelbarrow, a pitchfork, and lots of hay! I mean the wheelbarrow would be overflowing with the hay needed to feed the horses. After getting the hay into the wheel borrow, we would walk back to the horses and put the food inside of the paddocks for them.

Usually, when it started getting dark, we would get the horse's from the paddocks and walk them back to the barn for the night. The nightly routine was a lot longer than the morning routine. Every night we would bring the horses in, we would check their hooves to make sure they didn't have any severe injuries or cracks. We had to make sure to clean out the bottom of the hooves. I would also brush Apatchie for at least an hour or more to make sure he wasn't covered in burrs, all the dust was out of his hair, and to make him feel better overall. After brushing Apatchie, I would pet him for a bit and talk to him. Most people think talking to animals is important, I believe it is. When I talked to Apatchie, it was helping us to build a bond with one another!

Sometimes, after I was done all of the morning chores I would have, I would go outside to see Apatchie. When Apatchie saw me or heard me calling his name, he would always come running to the fence to greet me! I would pet him and walk along the fence with him. I would talk to him as he followed and would sometimes feed him some carrots. He loved his carrots that's for sure. We even ran around the fence line together to get some exercise! Man, that pony was full of life! Soon it was time for me to start learning how to ride him. That was the point of me building a bond with him. Your horse has to trust you, just like you have to trust him.

Before long, I was learning how to ride! I started off by learning how to get Apatchie used to having a saddle on his back. Mind you, he already used to it. Tammy just wanted to teach me how to properly put the saddle on and strap it tightly against Apatchie's body. She also informed me that Apatchie hated to have a saddle on his back, so he would tend to push out his stomach so that way, when he would go back to his normal size, the saddle would be loose, which would allow him to buck or knock me off. Too bad for Apatchie, I learned quickly how to make it good and tight. I learned to ride both Western style and bareback. Within two days I learned how to ride properly, how to get Apatchie into a full gallop, trot, slow walk, sharp turns, and stop.

After my two days of training how to ride, we decided to try and go riding down the trails. I had never been on the trails and heard that not only is it an enjoyable walk, but that it's a good way to get hurt if your horse doesn't like you. Luckily for me, Apatchie and I had built a great bond. We had no problems at all through the trail. One day we took the trail out to an empty field, Tammy told me to trust Apatchie and to just let him run, while I enjoyed the ride. I, of course, was excited to see how fast my little pony could go. I squeezed my legs against his sides and away we went. I was amazed by the speed he could go! It was such a rush! I could feel the wind in my hair, and the amount of fun Apatchie was having.

After a few years, I ended up not going back to visit my pony, as the guy I was dating and I had broken up. Of course, I was upset about knowing I wouldn't be able to see my pony. I tried keeping in touch with them, to check on how Apatchie was, but once I started working, it got harder to get in touch with them. I was always busy. Just a few years ago, about seven or 8, I found out that my pony Apatchie, had passed away. I was so devastated. I should have made the time to go and see him. I should have gone for that one last ride, to let him feel free again and enjoy the times we had. Now all I have are the memories of the good times.