the DVM life - Doctor of Veterinary Medicine

Today I went out for Draft Horse Club and....I GOT TO DRIVE THE WAGON!!!!

You see, that is really cool. Because it's not as easy as it looks. I'd only driven a few times before so I was a little .. oh what's the word here.. shocked, baffled, nervous... about driving the wagon. With people in it. A nice wagon too.

But we were on the track and they said the people with the least experience should just jump right in. Jump indeed. My honest response was "But I don't want to flip us over and kill everyone!"

So I got to sit up front, was handed the lines (not called reins) and away we went.

It. Was. AWESOME!!!! You have no idea how awesome it was.

The best part: I got to drive the wagon fast! Well, as fast as our horse goes which is a good trot. It was so exhilarating picking up the pace, actually feeling a little bit of the wind, hearing the sound of his hooves and the jangle of the wagon, watching stuff (relatively) fly by, and being in charge of it all by holding the lines. It's really quite a rush. Just as good as a chariot race for my beginner standards. Exactly as cool as the Western movies make it out to be. Except with less gunfights.

It was the coolest thing I've done in a long time. I'm glad I went - I was actually a bit nervous to go since I wasn't too stellar at pulling the harrow and I almost passed it up. But my most awesome lab partner easily convinced me and we had a good time. Before we got there, we were actually joking about how unlikely it'd be that we'd drive the wagon. We had a few good laughs on the way home : )

At the end I also got to pick his feet which are HUGE. He is a Clydesdale type after all. I'm pretty sure his one hoof is as big as my head. I was impressed that my little 120 lb self could pick up and clean the feet of a 2000 lb horse. I'm not very horse experienced so it's nice I'm getting to learn these things.

Moral of the story: don't be afraid to continue trying to learn something, even if you suck horribly at first.