The first horse that I belonged to was called Luke. Well, when he came to live with me his name was Sebastian, but I couldn’t let him carry that burden for the rest of his life. He didn’t deserve that. So Luke became the name he answered to when I called him for dinner or when he ordered coffee at Starbucks and when the bakery asked what name he wanted on his birthday cake.
I met Luke when I was about 23 and despite many years of riding and training he was my first, but I was his fourth. At the ripe old age of 4 years old, he had changed hands 3 other times.
In later life, Luke was a mellow mature man who handled each challenge with the wisdom that age bestows. But in his young life, he was a firecracker and a cry baby. Every little inconvenience or imposition was met with tears and a tantrum. If a mosquito bit him he would insist I take him to intensive care in an ambulance with the siren blaring. If he were human he would have been a hypochondriac with a ‘chicken little’ complex. In short, he was lovable, but a pain in the arse.
But it was Luke’s propensity to overreact that alerted me to how athletic he was. His leaping in the air at the slightest distraction made me realize his potential to be a talented jumping horse. And so it was that his career path was set and we had a few years of fun and success leaping over obstacles instead of shadows.
One weekend my older brother and his family visited. My 4-year-old niece, Olivia was fascinated by Luke. I didn’t have any experience with kids, but I knew she was small and he was huge and she needed to be protected from the damage Luke could inflict on her tiny frame. But Olivia has always been a strong-willed person and she insisted she be allowed to pat the horsey. Her mum and dad didn’t know anything about horses except they could hurt a grown-up, which meant they could probably kill their tiny daughter. Knowing how reactive Luke could be and how wary he was of strangers, I was equally concerned about Olivia being hurt by him. However, eventually she wore us all down as children are so often apt to do. I told my brother that I would lead Luke up to the fence and if he held Olivia on the other side she would be safe to pat him. It was agreed.
Photo: I’m riding Luke with Olivia and my friend Mark acting as support crew.
Olivia was so excited that she squealed with joy as Paul picked her up. I called Luke over to me. I thought he was coming to be caught, but he walked right past me and headed straight towards Olivia on the other side of the fence. He stretched his neck out as she waved her hands around widely in front of her. Olivia whacked him in the face with her frantic arm movement and I feared he would either run away or get angry, but he just nuzzled closer and sniffed her face. She laughed raucously and whacked his face a few more times. Luke continued to explore the smells of his new mini friend. The adults all relaxed.
I took Olivia in my arms and lifted her over the fence so she could pat Luke’s sides. He stood quietly as if loving this new way of grooming. Eventually, I hoisted her onto his back and held her while she laughed and squealed excitedly. Normally I would have expected Luke to show at least a little concern, but he seemed happy to share this moment with her. After a short time, Olivia’s mum noticed how dirty her clothes had become and insisted it was time to change Olivia’s clothes and the moment was gone. However, later that day I took Olivia for a ride on Luke, along with my friend and housemate Mark. Luke was the perfect gentleman in a way that he rarely was for me at this early stage of his life.
The reason I am telling this story is that I was recently reflecting on how gentle some horses can be with children. Even very troubled horses will sometimes discover their inner saintliness towards children. It’s like they have a personality transplant when interacting with a small child. It’s not always true and sometimes one has to be careful how a horse will react to a child. But it is true often enough that it makes me think something unusual is going on in the way a child can affect the inside of a horse.
I don’t know why some horses seem to have a personality shift in the presence of a child. But if I were to guess I’d say that horses read children’s body language and understand their intent is non-threatening. I see it more with human babies than other species. I mean Luke use to chase young goats and if he grabbed them he would toss them into the air. I had to mend many broken legs from his reaction to baby goats. And he hated calves with a vengeance. I’ve seen other horses get very stropping with the young of other species, but for some reason their reaction to humans was different.
There is something about the demeanour or smell or sound or body language or intent of children that calm certain horses. I don’t know what it is, but maybe you do. I’d like to hear your theories. Maybe if we could bottle it and sprinkle it behind our ears we would all have easy-going and gentle horses.