Valentine's Day is over, but the love lingers...

Valentine’s Day is over, but the memory lingers. This day is a day for remembering why we love the people that we love.

Valentine’s Day is a day of flowers, chocolate, cards, and kisses. But love doesn’t have to be shown in the form of gifts. This is a day to tell your loved ones that you love them. It could be a kiss hello or goodbye. It could be a special look. It could be just saying the right thing at the right time.

Love could be spending time with your loved one. And wanting to! Love could be giving of yourself, because you love the other person that much. Love could be doing something special for the other person. Love could be doing what the other person wants to do. Doing something that you wouldn’t necessarily would want to do. But you would do this because that is what the other person would love.

I wonder who we love more, people or pets? Pets love us back unconditionally. Pets want us to be happy all the time. Pets do what makes us happy, all the time. Well, most of the time!

Are horses pets? I don’t think they make us happy all the time! But when they do, that happy time is a special moment. Sometimes we have that special bond with that special horse. A bond that forms a special friendship. A bond that has that horse following us around like a puppy dog!

Do we tell our horses that we love them? What do we do that is special to our special horse? I think when we step back from riding and training, and just spend time with our horse, the horse knows that we love him or her. Love could be grooming, or feeding, or giving a special treat. Love could be going into the field to hug on our horse. To give our special friend a special hug.

How can we tell that our horses love us? Does our horse whinny when they see us? I love it when my horse whinnies to me softly, like a mare talking to her foal. Does our horse come up to us and lay their head low, to be petted in that special spot between the eyes? Does our horse stand still in the pasture, letting us rub them all over? I love it when the horses crowd around me, wanting me to pick them to rub on.

Sometimes we just need to spend time together. Doing nothing. That not only applies to our human loved ones, but to our four legged friends. A warm muzzle. A long neck to caress. A large belly to hug. A friend who will hang their head and accept us for who we are.

That is what love is all about. A horse to love. To love unconditionally. To want to spend time with me. To follow me around. To say spend time with me.

My next ride will be to hang out with my horse friend and just mosey around on the ride, enjoying each other‘s company! I just want to hang out for awhile! I want to make this a special ride for my friend, because I think that is what he would want! Come along on the ride with me!