Me and horses
Me and horses just don’t get along. This picture shows me on a horse for about the first time. I was visiting friends at Gelantipy in 1986 and climbed aboard this rather docile creature.
It was a reasonably pleasant experience and it probably lulled me into a false sense of security and ambition.
A few months or so later I was an active member of Young Farmers and went riding successfully with a friend Joy on her steed called Raja.
I then came unstuck while riding with a (very short term) girlfriend. We built up to a canter. My mount suddenly decided to gallop and took off as though being whipped to finish a sprint at Royal Randwick. There was nothing I could do to slow the beast down.
Eventually, I steered him towards a fence and prayed it wouldn’t try to jump over. As he slowed down I took my cue and leapt overboard, fortunately with only minor physical harm and a very bruised ego.
A year or so later again I was visiting Perth. One of my cousins, who was then a jockey, took me to some stables. He asked me to hold onto a horse while he wandered off somewhere. I’ve never sneezed so much in my life. I was near total collapse when my cousin returned.
Ever since then I’ve been allergic to horses. A desensitisation program did little to help and I start sneezing if I get within 100 metres downwind of a horse.
These articles might be of interest:
Sounds to me like you were pretty interested in horses to have that many encounters. I’m allergic too, but I don’t let it slow me down. You just didn’t meet the right horse for you.
I look forward to meeting the right horse, one that doesn’t make me sneeze