Ride On Time
Fiona Mackenzie’s epiphany came on a trail ride two years ago. The ride was planned as a way to help entertain her two young daughters during the long summer holidays. Instead, it changed her life.
“I was riding through the nature, looking out at mountains, and I got this sense of peace. I realised I wanted to start riding. I didn’t have a hobby and I hadn’t learnt anything new for a long time, and I felt quite unfulfilled by that,” Fiona says.
As a girl, Fiona had never ridden much beyond the occasional compulsory trail ride at school camp. As an adult, however, the Melburnian was hooked. “I’m pretty fast-paced and dynamic but on the back of a horse, you have to focus on feeling at one with the horse. And when you get up to speed and feel the wind in your hair, it’s a sense of freedom. You shut out the world. You just focus on the horse.”
Horses and girls, haven’t they always gone together? Years ago, you might have owned Barbie’s horse, Dallas, a golden palomino. You almost certainly would have known what a palomino was, either from reading books (the Pullein-Thompson clan collectively wrote nearly 200 of them) or watching movies (Black Beauty, National Velvet, International Velvet and, later, The Horse Whisperer). Your parents didn’t resist when you asked for the Bumper Pony Book For Girls. Luckily, they hadn’t read any Freud (who has his own ideas about why adolescent girls like horses so much).
But what of horses and women? Surprising numbers of grown women are indulging in a little equine passion. My sister Jeannette Milgrom got serious about horses in her 30s, a decision that she traced back to her deep-seated childhood wish to fly.
“It was something to do with the fact that horses are so beautiful and wild, and you can go fast, so it is like flying and I thought I could relate to them, that I was a bit of a horse whisperer,” she says. She also felt the desire to write her own rule book. “I was a very conforming adolescent and it was heady to think that I could do all sorts of adventurous things as an adult.”
Carol Kernaghan jokes that horses ended her marriage. After she took up riding as an adult, “My whole weekend was about riding and hanging out with horse people, rather than going to the footy with my husband.” (Breathe easy: her second husband is a horsey person.)
“Riding literally took over my life. I became really enthralled with it and no matter what happened, no matter how many times I fell off and got hurt, I’d just keep going.”
Carol, who lives in rural Victoria, loves connecting with the horses she is riding. “You are riding this massive animal that has a mind of its own. Once the horse trusts you, it will give you every inch of its body and every ounce of its mind to do whatever you ask it to do. When you have that, everything else disappears.
“If you’ve got problems in your life, you go out to the horse and have a magical ride, and the world stops. It’s a real healing moment. Even the mundane stuff gives you strength – breathing them in and smelling them.”
“If you’ve got problems in your life, you go out to the horse and have a magical ride, and the world stops. It’s a real healing moment. Even the mundane stuff gives you strength – breathing them in and smelling them.”
Jane Harris says that horses offer insights into her own feelings. “If you’re on a horse and you’re scared, it makes them feel uncomfortable. They know something’s not right. They mirror the way you’re behaving, which is why they also make amazing therapy animals for people with a range of health issues.” Jane, who lives in Melbourne, returned to the horse-riding days of her youth in her late 40s, after attending a polo match and realising she’d rather be competing than spectating. It’s not just her emotional wellbeing that has been saved by a horse; once, a horse helped her avoid serious injury, after she fell at a polo competition.
“It was extraordinary. The horse just stood completely still and did not move an inch. My head was right at its hoof, in fact, it had my polo top caught underneath its hoof. For this horse to not stand on any part of my body was something that it did deliberately. It saved me from really bad injuries.”
Riders may get hurt, but often they get healed. Fiona Mackenzie sees riding as a kind of self-care, involving mares instead of massages. “It’s an investment in myself. When I started riding, I realised everything in my life was done for other people. This has forced me to commit to doing stuff for myself.
“My husband plays golf and he’d go off for six hours which would include beer with his mates. I’d go to the gym for 45 minutes and come back to do the washing. Now, when I go riding, I’ll join friends who I’ve met through lessons. We’ll find a local country pub and have a meal and a drink.”
For some women, it isn’t even about getting in the saddle. Marika Shapiro visits the stables near her home almost daily. “I find it calming and happy to be near a horse. With COVID-19, the world has started to feel like it is out of control. Visiting the horses is a big highlight in my day. I love their faces. I love horses’ noses. I think they’re absolutely beautiful and I respect how powerful they are, but also how gentle.”
My sister Jeannette’s horse enthusiasm ended abruptly, but not before she learnt a valuable lesson. Out riding one day, her horse bucked her. When she climbed back in the saddle, it threw her off and rolled over her. It was only in hindsight that she realised she’d seen some signs of the horse’s ill temper.
“I emerged not just with bruises but also the sudden realisation that in certain circumstances, I tended to ignore warnings and situations I should not go into.”
For Carol, heartbreak came in a different form. She sheds some tears when remembering her now-deceased horse, Woody. “He was a bit like a soul mate. I would go out to him every day and I told him all my problems. I’m just so grateful to have had him in my life. He’s the one who has inspired me and I just strive to keep going and do really well. I have got a lot to thank him for.”
Words_ Rachelle Unreich
Photo_ Jez Timms/UnSplash