Pets

My house has always been like a bit of a zoo. When I was twelve we moved to our ranch in Graham, Texas. The whole reason for our moving there was about being closer to our horses and being able to ride them more. I was not used to having to take care of all the animals full time so it was quite an adjustment for me. There were times when I had to get up at six in the morning to get all the horses fed before I went to school. At one point we had twenty horses, among various other animals, and that was more responsibility than I really wanted to deal with.

Most people think horses are so much fun and they dream of living on a ranch with horses. The part they seem to leave out is all the responsibility that horses bring. Horses seem like a lot of fun in your head, but when you have fifteen to twenty of them to deal with on a daily basis things change real fast. Horses aren’t the most cooperative creatures either; they’re actually quite frustrating and difficult to deal with. Oh, and they never get along with each other, its like having a bunch of little kids running around, except they weigh close to 1000 pounds and don’t even consider listening to you.

All this isn’t to say that I didn’t enjoy having horses, because I did, its just that I think of the work before I think of the fun. I participated in my fair share of rodeos and won money, and belt buckles just like people imagine, except probably much less glorified. I made a lot of friends at these rodeos and it was always something fun to do on the weekends. Plus having horses is nice because a lot of your friends a envious and want to come ride. Just like anything else that takes skill its fun to watch those friends who don’t know how to ride horses attempt to do so, especially if they talk like they can ride. So don’t let my first impressions set the tone of this blog, I do enjoy living on a ranch with horses.

What’s strange is that I live in small town Texas and people still are surprised when I tell them that I own horses. I mean its Texas; people do still ride horses here. Of course at the opposite end of the spectrum you have those people who assume that everyone in Texas rides horses and still fight Indians and have gunfights in the streets. Either way it usually provides an interesting conversation.

So although horses can be a lot of work I think that I'm better for growing up on a ranch. It has taught me responsibility and more than anything patience. When I take that into consideration along with the fun that having horses does provide I realize that it wasn’t so bad after all. However, I don’t know that I could live on a ranch with horses later in life; I guess I’ll just have to see.