Horses offer perfect “therapy”

I feel compelled to thank Laura Walter for sharing her story about her and her mother’s horse, Amrieh (“How Amrieh Showed the Way,” True Tales, EQUUS 462). I particularly appreciated the author’s comments about how older riders relate to riding, especially when they had ridden well in their youths.

I had grown up riding, and I rode like it was second nature---almost as if I was born in the saddle. But I quit in my late 20s, then I went back to it in my late 50s. I am now approaching 65. Ms. Walter is the only contributing writer I have come across who so perfectly expressed how a young person is able to ride with no fear but with heavenly joy and exhilaration---but that an older rider (who may have had some bad falls) can never regain that pure unheeded experience.

However, as Ms. Walter also describes, those of us who love the smell of barns and manure will always find ourselves drawn back to that part of our lives that gave us pure joy and contentment---even if we know the risks. Many of us older riders still find our perfect “therapy” on the back of a horse.