The Horse Whisperer 2

“What would you like to see?” she asked. Her name was Ummu, a management graduate and the eldest daughter. I was tempted to answer : A glorious path that may lead to sustainable happiness. “All the different kind of horses you have here” I replied. We walked to the barn. This farm started out small and slowly accumulated one horse at a time. It’s family owned and the next generation hoped to take on the mantle.

We stood in front of a white stallion which belonged to her brother. The horse greeted her with a slight nod as Ummu patted her down. I asked Ummu if I could pat her too. She told me to approach gently but the horse shrugged away as I raised my hand towards her mane. “Woah” I said “I think she doesn’t like me”. Ummu laughed as she told me it wasn’t personal. Well the Stallion preferred her touch over mine.
I held my hand out as I tried woo the horse towards me. But she suddenly took a swipe at me with her mouth. She was either really wary of me or liked to bite. And I meant the horse and not the girl. “Horses are playful creatures” Ummu told me “They love to nibble but don’t worry they won’t hurt you”. Ya Right, as if I could entrust my hand to a playful creatures. “Go on ” she encouraged me “Hold out your hand”. I wasn’t comfortable with just handing over my hand with my palms stretched out, so I formed a knuckle. She was right about the horse not wanting to hurt my limb. It’s chopping and licking tickled me a bit. Ummu walked over to a horse she had tamed and it greeted her like an old friend. It was 7 years old with a brown chocolate coat.
We moved on to a wider fenced area where a horse was galloping around. Each horse gets at least three hours of exercise. “What’s that noise?” I asked her about the constantly running engine. She took me towards this machine which was like a huge treadmill. There was a milk colored horse on it. Certain horses were trained for endurance and long distance races. So this was one of the way they were trained. The duration on the machine could be either 45 minutes or 3 hours. It depends on the training schedule.
“This one looks particularly young” I said as I pointed at a foal. It’s was only 12 days old. Ummu surprised me by opening up the gate and walking in. She nestled the young-in in her lap. The Mamma horse stood nearby protectively. Since Ummu was familiar to the mother, she was welcomed to cradle the child.
The horses aren’t trained till they reach 2 and a half years. So this one wouldn’t be broken in till later. We met her brother who was shoveling hay. We greeted him and walked on. Ummu seemed like she handled birth and death really well. At age 11, she witnessed for the first time the birth of a foal. In this farm, most of the trainers were proficient in taking care of the horses, thus they didn’t really need veterinarian doctors. Though they can’t do much in case a horse badly broke it’s leg. If they can’t fix it , they would put it down so as the majestic creature wouldn’t suffer.
Ummu started riding at age 9. I asked if she wanted to emulate her brother and become an International equestrian competition rider. I was told it would cost a lot of money to participate in one of those competitions. And since her brother had more of a knack for it then her,her family decided to focus on him for now. I asked what about her goals and dreams. She told me she plans to expand the family business. Later Ummu was called off to help out with the horses. I stood there trying to take in every inch of the scene. As Ummu whispered something to the horse to calm it down, I understood why some one would devote their life to taking care of these creatures. They understood her as much as she knew them.

The Horse Whisperer-Part 1

It was getting late and my wound was throbbing. The Sun was still up in the sky. And it seemed like it wasn’t going anywhere any time soon. The water fall was supposed to be close by but I’m not so sure how far. And I hoped to end this day by lazing in a pool created by the cascading water. So I strode the bike once more and with a flick of my left hand had secured my helmet. I still couldn’t lift my right arm beyond my shoulder. Though the throbbing pain had ceased. I did one last check to ensure all my belongings were intact. I’ve been doing this all day as If these things were the only possession I owned. My conscious had been troubled for a while and I haven’t been able to shake off this weird vibe. This was the partial cause of the accident earlier. Talk about tragic consequences. I set off once I  ensured that I still had my wallet, phone and camera. The Camera would be useless till I have fix fixed. It had been on quiet a few journey and I hope this wouldn’t be it’s last.

 The Bike started without much coercing though how the bloody thing still works after the fall is still a mystery. It was surely lucky but I couldn’t say the same about my elbow. I could saved myself the pain and the trouble if I had just tucked in both arms when I fell. Or better yet, meditate to put my mind at ease before I left. Was it a good Idea for me to keep driving around? I drove off the parking lot and on to the road. The Path on my Right would lead me back to my hostel while the one on my left would take me to my supposedly final destination. As If on instinct I took the path less traveled. I didn’t know how far I had to drive. But as I kept riding, I found rows and rows of fences. So this was the ranch I sighted from the cable car on my way to the Top. As I drove pas the front gate, I braked to a screeching halt. Should I go in? I’ve never been to one of these places. Well since I am already out of my comfort parameter, why shouldn’t I? So I drove in and stopped in front of a barn

I took my helmet off and got a full brunt of the mixture of manure and hay. There seemed to be an engine running somewhere along with the galloping of a horse or horses. I could sense these equestrian mammals and I am sure they could feel me out too. Neighing and huffing greeted me as I entered the barn. The barn was huge and contained numerous stables. How funny it is to go in search of a water fall and find these beautiful majestic creatures.

The horses were padlocked in their stables and I was alone with them. No one came out to greet me. I guess they weren’t curious about visitors. I could have just stood there feeling out these 4 legged souls but I felt I was trespassing. So I went in search of the caretakers. I guess I wasn’t the only one who was nervous as I saw a restless stallion who was as black as the night. He was pacing his stable behind the gate.

I stopped at a poster which heralded the feats of the owner’s son. There were a couple of trophies and photos of him taken at International events. “Impressive”, It seems these training grounds have produced a star. There were other trophies, medals and newspaper cuttings of the achievements of various people associated to this ranch. This Ranch enjoys a good patronage and the Ex Prime Minster of Malaysia owns the first foal to have been breed in these stables.

.There was an open door leading to an office. So I walked in hopes of finding a receptionist. I wasn’t the only one waiting to talk to someone. When the help finally showed up and had attended with the couple who were before me, she attended my questions on the riding rates. Not only was she a Veterinarian graduate but also an intern at the stables due to her love of horses. I was a bit late to be able to ride one so I settled on exploring this magical territory. There were an ample number of cats lazing about. I guess they were used to the humans and the horses. I rubbed one right between the ears and he purred as if I ran a massage parlor.

A full scale skeleton remains of what I assume to be a horse stood right outside the office. There were two of them on either side. This was meant to be an honor given to the favored horses who have passed on for greener pastures. It was nice gesture and I was glad they didn’t make jewelry from the bones.

I heard growling and I knew there were dogs about. In fact there were two of them locked behind a fence on my right. They didn’t look happy so I walked towards the ponies on my left.  Though the ponies were of equal size to the dogs, they seemed more welcoming. I didn’t know if I could pat them but I didn’t wish to disturb them either. I didn’t think they would have minded cause the grass seemed far more interesting.

By now the dogs had visitors. But they weren’t fond of one of the girls. So I guess the other one was either a friend or a family member. I went up to greet her and Inquired how she was able to stand so close to the fence. She either had nerves of steel or must have been wearing an Iron woman suit inside her normal clothes. “We have an agreement” she said ” I ignore them and they ignore me”. I laughed at her humor but they dogs did know her. One of them belonged to her dad and another to her brother. It was he I found posters out at front. As I stood there looking on, I asked if she could show me around. “Let’s go” she said and we all went in search of horses.