Why Horses?
One of the reasons why printing your pictures is so important!
One of my biggest regrets is that I don’t have a professional picture with my late horse. Byokk was a Thoroughbred-cross, rescued just before she was sold for meat.
At that time I was still living in Italy where, sadly, many horses still have that destiny, but that cold January evening changed everything. I wasn’t in a good place in my head. I was going through a very difficult time and riding was helping me to cope. I knew how to ride, but honestly, I didn’t have a clue about equine psychology or behaviour. I saw her with her dark, pretty face and white star on the forehead and I thought “I like her”. She came to me, she looked at me and she went back at the bottom of the paddock.
The next day she arrived at the stable and OMG… She was like a teddy bear due to the winter coat, dirty, skinny and very angry. She didn’t want to be touched or be close to a human and in that moment I thought “and now what?” I started to look online for some books about horses and I started to read EVERYTHING I could, from how they work, how they think, how they react and why. So, our journey started like this. I was really busy trying to understand why she didn’t like a lot of things and trying to help her to trust me, I wanted her to know that I would not doing to her anything to harm her, but how?
I was there with her every day, riding or simply mucking out or talking to her. I realised that the stable now was my happy place because of her and one day I had an incredible vet come to check her out. We had a long chat about her and he made realise that I was so busy fixing her that she was actually fixing me. What?! Yes, I was a better person because of her, I was feeling stronger, more confident and loved. Very much loved by a broken horse.
In that moment I was so grateful for what she did for me that I made her a promise: we would spend the time left together. She would grow old with me. No matter what.
We have been together for 15 years. She came with me to the UK in 2014 with our other horse Sisco (and the 2 dogs and 4 cats). She left me on 18th of December 2015 at the age of 30.
She was not just my horse, but my best friend and my saviour. I just hope she knew how much I loved her and how grateful I will always be for what she gave me.
And I miss her every day.
I would love to have a big portrait of me and her to show in my house, but I don’t have one. All the pictures here were taken with a phone and they are not good quality. So, if you have a horse, a dog, a cat that you love so much don’t miss the opportunity to have a professional photoshoot done. One day those pictures will be priceless.