by Charity Nicole Robertson

Created on: July 05, 2010

I grew up with the dream, of one day owning a horse and that wish came true many years later. I will never forget my mare, Shoshone; she was a big, black mare and had a personality to match her size. Now over all, she was a good horse and I owe it to her, for teaching me how to handle strong, minded horses.

As I said before, she was a good horse, but sometimes her sense of humor wasn't the same as mine. Since, I was little I had watch cowboy movies and had seen how they easily jumped onto the horses bareback. So, one day I decided that I was going to learn how to jump onto Shoshone bareback.

Only problem was, that I was a little girl and she was one big horse, but at the time that didn't enter my mind. So, I went to get my mare and tied a rope to her halter and prepared to jump. During this time, Shoshone was standing like an old plow horse, so I confidently tried to jump up on her and I managed to get my leg over her back and I lacked just a little bit to get on her.

But, her wonderful humor kicked in at that moment and all of a sudden she lowers her head down to the ground and I go flying of her back. Man, was I mad! I almost had it when she would have to lower her head. I must say, that I never managed to jump on her from the ground because every time and I mean every time I was almost on her back, down her head would go again.

I remember another time when I was riding her bareback down the road and my sister was walking beside me. I graciously asked my sister if she would like to ride behind me. She emphatically said no, especially since she knew what kind of tricks Shoshone could pull. I finally, convinced her by telling her that nothing would happen and to look at how calmly she was walking.

Little did I know what she would have up her sleeve. So, I headed over to the side of the road, where there was a raised bank about two and a half feet high and told my sister to climb aboard. My sister, fearfully climbed up onto Shoshone( by the way that's the worst way you could get on her) and at that instant my wonderful mare decided to climb up the raised bank.

Now, I was riding bareback with my sister behind me holding on for dear life and my horse was climbing up the incline. If Shoshone would just have kept going we would have been fine, but she decides it is time for a snack when she only has her front feet on top. So, here I am trying to get her to keep climbing up and trying not to slide off her back, but I had my sister already beginning to slide off and she was pulling me with her. I'm about ready to slide right of her back when lovely Shoshone gives a lunge and climbs up the bank.

That did it! We were already losing our balance, but when she pulled that one we both went flying. It would have to happen in front of several neighbors. I calmly got up, knowing that I couldn’t let my neighbors see how much it really hurt and kindly asked my sister if she would like me to help her get on again.

My sister was like are you nuts, I'm not getting back up on her! I was like oh, come on. During this time, my wonderful neighbors were interestingly watching to see what would happen next. I'm afraid they were quite disappointed, because my sister took off to the house and left me trying to get back up on good old Shoshone.

Even though she could be ornery at times, she was the best horse I ever had and I dearly miss her. If I put a little kid up on her she would act like an old plow horse, but if I got up on her she was like dynamite ready to explode. She taught me how to treat a horse right, because if I didn't treat her right she sure would let me know!

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