Back on Track ‘Horse Therapy’: Jessica & Mare

Here at Horse Nation, we believe that the best therapists are our own horses. Each week we bring you a reader-submitted tribute to a special equine — here is Jessica and Mare’s story.

My ten-year-old mare, affectionately named Mare, has been a savior the past few years. I rescued her from an older gentleman. She wasn’t malnourished, but rather loved through lots of feeding so she was overweight; her feet had not been done in nearly a year. I walked into the pen to see her and we instantly bonded … so much so that she would cut off any person or horse from coming near me that day. The old man agreed to let me take her and he even sent a little money for me to get her feet done and to have her hauled 200 miles.

I got her back to a reasonable weight, but then I got pregnant so she became a pet for a year, letting me sit on her bareback and ride her around the pasture. Once I was ready to really work her I found she had a lot of resistance, as though everything was going to make her sore. We overcame that. My guess is when she was younger she was in a training program to be shown and one day she just got sore and had enough so they sent her down the road.

She is a doll on the trail, willing to go through or over anything. I have put my four-year-old daughter on her at the end of a longe line and she just knows. I set my sixteen-month-old on her and she doesn’t flinch. She even lets the sixteen-month-old hug her leg (with me there watching carefully, of course.) She hugs me on stressful days after final exams and hours of class. And she gives me unforgettable rides. She is my everything horse, a true jack of all trades.

Here at Horse Nation, we believe that the best therapists are our own horses. We love sharing the stories of special equines and the lessons horses have taught us — email yours to [email protected] to be featured in an upcoming edition of Back on Track “Horse Therapy.” Go Back on Track, and Go Riding!