G is for Gizmo

For years and years I have asked for a horse. I’ve looked at many different breeds like Lipizzaner, Haflinger, or Friesian. Yet, my parents kept saying no for different reasons like, “You’re too young”, or “Maybe you should try co-boarding first”, or “It just cost too much money”. After a long time of “please Mommy and Daddy, they gave in.

I bought Gizmo at an old farm. There were about 40 horses. These horses have had feed experiments on them to see if the feed can increase their bone density. These horses were breed for this experiment. But after the experiment was done the horses were going to be destroyed. So people that I know were going to buy some including my old riding instructor. At that point I didn’t buy any because first I wanted to see their personality. And I did see, I worked with Gizmo at first then bought him soon after.

Gizmo is now four and is a Quarter Horse. He is 14hds and a beautiful chestnut. When I got Gizmo he was only a baby. Like all baby horses he was barely touched very, very skittish and hard to train. Yet Gizmo started to teach me things while I was training him. While he learned I learned too.

Gizmo taught me to look for the slightest flaw. When he was starting to walk away or run away while I ground tied him I had to look to see when and before he thought or even started to moved so that I wouldn’t have to correct it.

He taught me to really mean what I say and be a leader. He taught me this because he was always so doubtful without a leader. In a horse herd there was always a leader that had to guide them through tough parts show them what to do and tell them what to do. I had to be the herd leader so that he trusted and respected me so that he would do as I say.

But the most important lesson he taught me was patience. He taught me that you’re not always successful on the first try and some people need time to get it right. This is the lesson that I would like to teach you. It took me a while to fully understand its importance. I hope that you take this lesson to be as important as I think it is and use it every day.