Unbridled News
Equine News & Commentary for California's Horse Community

  
It Takes Community, by Garry Stauber

“It takes a village to raise a child” is an African proverb made famous by Hillary Rodham Clinton.

This week I learned anew about how that truism relates to horses.  My paint mare Ginger (one of the horses I rode the length of California) was gravely injured in a barbed wire fiasco. I have seen many horses injured by barbed wire, but this was the worst I have ever seen. On Ginger’s right hind leg, the skin and meat was removed from the hock to the hoof, exposing almost 12 inches of the entire bone (all the way around the bone), except for a one-inch piece in the back that was barely holding it on. The skin drooped and hung precariously from the wound.  With the front tendon completely severed, Ginger had no way to lift the front of her hoof to set it properly on the ground. So the hoof folded backwards, underneath, when she attempted to walk. I was certain the leg was broken. The grave extent of her wound made me want to eliminate her pain immediately.

In the emotion of the injury and the aftermath, I felt dysfunctional and wasn’t thinking clearly. I called a neighbor and asked for help in contacting a vet to come put Ginger down. It seemed the right thing to do in my mind. Within minutes my entire community arrived on the scene. There were close friends, riding buddies, the farrier, the horse broker I had purchased Ginger from, the owner of the property where I pastured the horse, many  neighbors, and very soon the vet my neighbor had called. I had only made one phone call, and I was overwhelmed by the entire community who came to help. The whole “village” was out in the pasture, supporting me and my injured horse.  There were people standing around watching this group move into action, like they were waiting for a chance to help. On a small country road where only one car passes every hour, the machine had been turned on with only one objective, to help me help my horse.

Photos by Bruce Green

Friends and neighbors worked together to string a hose across the 4-acre pasture, bringing water to clean the wound and keep it moist. Others were repairing the fence where the incident occurred. Some were working directly on the horse’s wound while others were catching and tying up the other horses in the field.  Since this was in the middle of a pasture, some worked feverishly to get a truck and trailer into the middle of the field, to transport the horse, who couldn’t walk on her own. With inadequate gates and creekbeds to cross, getting the truck and trailer to the horse was no easy task and many were involved.

As I looked around at the scene, I was flooded with emotion. My entire community had come out, to support me and my horse.  When the vet arrived her first words to me were, “I have heard about this horse and we are not giving up easily.” The unspoken mission of everyone seemed to be, “We are not giving up.” The vet determined that the bone did not appear to be broken after all, and Ginger might be able to be saved. While helping me decide which hospital to take her to, the vet explained the different costs between the equine hospitals and the expected costs of Ginger’s surgery and recovery.  As I started to leave the pasture to take Ginger to the hospital, the owner of the pasture handed me back the month’s rent I had paid earlier in the day saying, “You need this more than me.”

I read an article this week that told about increasing numbers of naive people purchasing horses without knowing what is needed to properly care for a horse. This is resulting in increasing numbers of horses living in unhealthy and neglectful situations.  I agree with the article, that it is important for horse owners and potential owners to understand fully the needs and costs associated with caring for a horse. I also believe owning a horse also requires the help of a community.  It takes a village to raise a horse.

Horse communities might be formed around geography (neighbors who keep their horses at home and live close by) or boarding stables (people who keep their horses in the same location and may or may not ride together).  Horse “communities” might also be formed around lesson/training programs (students who share the same trainer and ride together) or an organization (Backcountry Horsemen of California, Ohlone Riders, Monterey Bay Equestrians, Savvy Players, etc.) or on the internet (such as our very own Bay Area Equestrian Network and her new sister site Southern California Equestrian Network).

Many persons constitute a horse community: friends you ride with, mentors in the horse world, veterinarians, trainers, instructors, local tack and feed stores, clinicians, and even message boards and resources like the Bay Area Equestrian Network. In fact, that is exactly what a horse community is, a network of encouragement and assistance to help in the development, care, training and enjoyment of our horses. Reading the Message and Chat Boards on BAEN is like watching a community in action. A simple question often turns into a plethora of ideas and philosophies. A virtual community with many participants never meeting. However, many of the persons on these boards have met, and now ride together and learn and share about horses with each other. The outcome is community. And no matter who we are, as I learned again, we all need it.

So how do you build community?  I would offer that, in the horse world, community is built by:

• talking with each other and taking the time to listen to each other's stories

• being kind and showing kindnesses (to people and horses)

• sharing things (feed, supplies, tack - obviously, within reason)

• sharing ideas (books, websites, articles, etc.)

• sharing experiences (riding together, taking lessons together, going to seminars or clinics together)

• sharing causes (like Halters for Rangers, working for trail access, local equestrian issues)

• helping out in emergencies

• helping out when it's not an emergency (building fences, vacation coverage, foaling, etc.)

• celebrating successes and sharing failures together

• learning to trust the others' good intentions, even when misunderstandings occur.

In a real community, the sharing is mutual and reciprocal.  In a community, the sharing maintains a kind of balance over time - one person is not giving a whole lot more than another on an ongoing basis.  It may not be "equal" at any given moment, but things feel balanced over time.  A community is not one person taking advantage of another or one person "using" another - but rather, mutual and reciprocal give and take.

Ginger and I benefited this week from our community in Aromas. Yes, it takes an entire village to raise a horse. After a four-hour surgery (which a loyal friend and I assisted with), the doctor told us Ginger will probably walk normally again, but it will take time. She will probably never be Long Rider again, but she is much more important to me than that one job. Ginger is my close friend, and a member of our community.  

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Copyright Garry Stauber © 2004  All rights reserved. The above article is the property of the Author and may not be duplicated or redistributed in any way without permission. Visit Garry on-line at Dream Adventures.