The American Teenager

   

     My name is Taylor Austell. I live in the United States of America in the southernmost state of Florida. I'm a fifteen year old girl who's been riding horses for nine years. Horse riding is my personal artistic escape from the reality of life as a school going teenager. I go to a prestigious arts school called Douglas Anderson. I live to write, record, and photograph the things I love most about life and the beautiful simplicity of human to animal emotional interaction. Horses are at my best interests.

      Without them the human race would be extinct - or at least savaged because while we domesticated horses, they domesticated us.
      I have been riding horses since I was six years old. But I was bitten by the horse-bug long before that. It's a hereditary thing. My mom had it, and my grandmother had it, and her mom possibly had it because she was Indian. So it is a legitimately proven fact that the horse-bug is in our blood. I don't mind the little parasite; it's just an extra thing to add to my mountain of high demands. But seriously, this bug has a potent effect on me. It is the cantrip that drives me to create blogs, art, and any other form of unnecessary obsession with these animals.
    I look at it and think it's completely normal, but I guess other "normal" people look back and think I'm the weirdest weirdo in the bunch. I think of it like this and laugh: "It's like knowing a friend who unhealthily worships Giraffe's. She has Giraffes, she makes blogs about Giraffes, she rides Giraffes, she has posters of them, ect." So I guess all of the horse people do seem a little odd perhaps, to the "normal" people. But we can't help it. It's religion. 

     So anyway, I'm still riding with the instructor I started with. It's a rare thing actually. Lots of students end up switching barns, deciding they want to try different disciplines, or deciding their instructor wasn't what they wanted. I'm just as good a rider as anyone else who's been riding for my amount of time. I maybe don't have as much showing experience, but I'm always busy. I've always been faithful in Kenda to take me where I'd be going, and honestly, I wouldn't have found Malachi or my other horses if it weren't for her.
    My first pony was Spy. She is a 13.0 hand, fleabitten, POA mare. I got her when I was ten. She's taught me the most about horses than any other horse I've ever ridden. When we bought her, she didn't have any ground manners. She'd walk all over you when leading, she'd run into you, she wouldn't load, and she'd kick when you tried to pick her feet. Now, she's a perfect little saint. She's a great jumper and a perfect kid horse. I passed her to my sister who has sadly outgrown her. We may have to sell her this coming Christmas; we will all be devastated. I think my sister has learned a lot from her as well, and she is ready to move away from ponies into horses.
     The four years I was riding her were probably the best four years for my riding. I learned how to manipulate the hardest of all horses and seal a bond with an excellent first pony choice.

me as a 6th grader

     When I moved on to my second horse, Aries, I was quick to make a decision. I was maybe in the 6th grade. Note that I was obsessed with the pony Theodore O' Connor, so I was looking for a lean, mean, jumping-machine. Aries was a 14.1 hand chestnut mare who looked like a Welsh x Arabian cross of sorts. She was absolutely gorgeous. The day before we went out to see her, I rode a mare named Bess at this very high class stable. She was the pony I should have bought. She was a pure Haflinger with a golden coat. When I rode her, she came off to me as unbearably fat and slow. I never took in the consideration that she had been heavily ridden by one of the neighbors just a couple hours before, so when I got on of course she'd be very slow and tired. The next day on our horse-shopping trip we visited Aries the spirited girl, with nice conformation, and a whole lot of spunk. She felt like I imagined Teddy O' Connor to feel, and I could actually visualize her in Teddy's shoes. She was a sweet pony, but she also had the fiery kick that had my attention from the start.
     When we brought her home, she was a bit of a firecracker. She had no boundaries when with us, and it was Spy all over again. I guess I wanted one of those forty thousand dollar ponies that would look gorgeous over jumps and do what you asked of them. Or maybe I was simply rebelling against what everyone else wanted me to get. But whatever the case, it was two years of horse-fear. I can't even tell you how many times I fell off of that pony. Somehow we just didn't work. She had too much scope. So we sold her, and now Malachi.

     Malachi is that horse that every little girl dreams about. He's the big white horse from the distant sea lands with a long mane and tail. Everything about him is mystical. I can't say that the first time I met him I knew he was the perfect horse, but I let the decisions of my mom and Kenda override me, and I'm very glad they did. I must not be very skilled when choosing a horse, because I always have the toughest time. At least now, if I ever need something new, I know what to look for...
     And that is where horse-history left me. It's here in the now with my new guy Malachi. I've had him for a little over a year on this spot, and I'm glad to document the progress, ups and downs, and new encounters here on out to make our history global.