Comet has a job to do. He does it well. He enforces discipline among the two bands with whom he is pastured. His lieutenant is Holland, my powerful Shackleford He was my most difficult horse to train. He was fiercely aggressive and would go out of his way to hurt a person.
Now he is ridden by novices. He is a fascinating diagnostic tool . He has riders that love nothing better than to ride him and others that simply will not ride him. His reaction to different riders does not seem to have anything to do with their skill or experience as riders. Those who are comfortable and confident get a great response. It seems that those who are less sure of themselves find him to be ungovernable.
I do not talk to him as much as I talk to my other horses. I do not need to. We understand each other. We both know that the other has a job to do and we do not resent the other for doing their job.
I have at least five horses that are stronger, faster, and more comfortable to ride, yet if it were a matter of life ad death for me to ride a hundred miles I would saddle him up. He would not let me ride him in a place that we should not be going. He would get me to the destination all in one piece.
Comet is not a wild horse. He is 3/4 Appaloosa and 1/4 Arabian. He is also not a colt.
My riders are constantly asking me how old various horses are. I cannot remember. There are a lot of horses and their ages change every single year. A few weeks ago I realized that I have been incorrectly giving out my own age lately. I am 53, not 54.I am not good at keeping numbers in my head.
But the other reason I have trouble remembering horse ages is that they do not matter as much as people wish to think. Horses only come in three ages, too young to ride, perfect for riding, and too old to ride.
I just looked Comet's age up. He is older than I was thinking. He is 16.
A perfect age for riding.
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