The Forever Home

I was recently looking back at old blog posts from the early days with Francisco, when I stumbled across this one. The short version if you don’t want to read the whole thing is this: I bought Frankie to be my athletic partner and not a pet, and I did not commit to keeping him forever.

HAH

LOL

OK SURE

Took this picture at our first show in 2016. I now have a literal oil painting of this hung proudly on my wall.

Clearly, past me had no idea what was in store. And to be fair – at that point we were only a few months into our partnership, we had not yet achieved all these incredible things we’ve now accomplished, we had not been on adventures all over the country, we had not built the trust and love that we have in the past 7 years.

I don’t think I was necessarily wrong in theory, but I do think things have changed after all the years and things we’ve done together. I realized a couple years ago that Frankie made so many of my dreams come true, and it was way more fun for me to pivot and try things that he might enjoy rather than just pushing for myself. And that didn’t feel like a sacrifice, it felt selfish – instead of always climbing climbing for the next division, I picked what makes me happy. And what makes me happy is riding this specific horse.

I have never in my LIFE smiled on course. I’ve always had the death stare. But I have also never in my life felt so safe and confident and lucky and happy as I do with my Frankfurter.

So yes, Frankie does have a forever home with me. He has and will continue to spend time on lease as needed while I navigate the early years of motherhood, he will pack me around in whatever divisions make us feel good when I’m able to get to the barn, and when he wants an easier job he’ll either go be part of the lesson program or move out to the farm across the street from my house and be a pasture pet.

Whatever the future looks like, I will be the one ensuring his health and happiness. Not only do I owe it to him after all that he’s selflessly given me over the years, but I simply adore this creature. I want to be the one who takes care of him, I want to always be there to love on him. Again, this doesn’t feel like a sacrifice; it feels like such a blessing to continue to have Francis in my life.

Knowing that he can jump around like a pro and then immediately give pony rides to a literal baby is priceless. Utterly priceless.

Added to that, I want to show Lina what it means to be the steward of these animals. That the balance can shift over time, and that it can be a joy to find new ways of being together.

There will be other horses in my life as time goes on, and I do maintain that it is likely that not all of them will be a forever horse for me. But Frankie surely is.