Despite growing up in the sticks, I've never really gotten along with horses. They're magnificent animals, undeniably beautiful, but the few times I climbed aboard a saddle didn't go so well. I was young at the time and unable to bend them to my puny human will, so those horses just went wherever they damned well pleased, ignoring my heel-kicks and increasingly desperate flailing on the reins.
When a horse makes you feel like a horse's ass, you don't forget it.
I didn't, anyway, and these days would much rather throw my leg over a motorcycle, which will go exactly where I ask it to without biting or kicking me, nor will it rear up and throw me into a ditch unless I do something really dumb -- and although I've been that stupid once or twice (with the scars to prove it), those days were over a long time ago.
I'm not a horse-person, but among those who do speak the equine language is a longtime reader of this blog named Suzanne Warren. She also happens to be a filmmaker with a lot of experience under her, uh, saddle, and is currently working on a documentary about the growing use of "therapy horses" to treat shell-shocked Vietnam and Iraq war vets haunted by PTSD with programs such as this.
You can see a short trailer for the film here, and if motivated, contribute to the Kickstarter campaign Suzanne is using to raise funding. Despite my own lack of resonance with horses, this is a worthy cause, so I kicked a few dollars in. I'm hoping others will do the same. Given the nature of Kickstarter, this is a time-sensitive issue -- Suzanne has less than two weeks left to hit her goal. If you're interested, or know anybody who might be, please pass the word along.
I hope she makes it, and gets to finish that film.
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