For many years as a little girl I dreamed of having a horse but my parents could never have afford one. I had regular riding lessons and spent many hours at the local riding school just caring for the ponies. As I grew up my love of horses grew with me and that longing for a horse of my own never left me. I had children of my own and they in turn loved horses and learned to ride from a very young age. I loaned a horse for a time from a local riding school but still that longing for one of my own never left me.

It was not until I was in my mid forties that my dream came true. My husband gave me permission to buy my own horse for the first time. She was beautiful, a 3yr old appaloosa cross called Cheyenne. She was so dirty when I first saw her with dreadlocks in her mane and half a tail but once she was groomed and cared for she was beautiful. She has the most unusual markings almost like splashes of coffee over her neck, face and bottom.

More beautiful still was her nature. Cheyenne was gentle and kind. She was initially wary of me but as I groomed her every day she learned not to fear me, learned that I would not hurt her. She would fall asleep on my shoulder as I stood gently stroking her neck and talking to her. She would lift her feet to have them cleaned without any effort on my part. I numbered them and if I called out number 1 she would life the first hoof up for me. She was a pleasure to ride, sensible for such a young horse, a bit fast perhaps but that was just the inexperience of youth.

When she and I were together we were one being, it was not a horse and a rider it was us! Other riders always carried a whip but I never did, I never needed to use a whip to get her to obey and I displayed respect towards her in that I didn't ask too much of her or did not ask her to face something she was genuinely afraid of. We had our scrapes like all good pairings the biggest one landed me in hospital when Cheyenne vaulted over a puddle in a gallop and I was catapulted into a tree at high speed and from considerable height as she was 16hh. It was not her fault, she simply spooked at the puddle, a horse will not stand on another horse or a person unless it is unavoidable and it may have been that she looked down and noticed her reflection, thought it was another horse and tried to avoid it, who knows, but we were a team, through the good and the bad. I was told not to ride for at least 1 week because of head injuries but I couldn't stay away more than 1 day. I loved her and I didn't want her left alone thinking she was in the dog house because I'd fallen.

It was a sheer joy every time I went to her field to fetch her in, she would hear my voice and head straight towards me looking for her carrots and she was such a creature of habit, no way would she have her head collar on unless she had had one carrot first, she would not be fooled. We'd spend an hour just together with each other, me grooming her, brushing her mane now free of dreadlocks it was almost 12 inches long, brushing her tail and willing it to grow. As I groomed her she would be nuzzling me, never biting, just nuzzling. Then each day we would go out for a ride in the local forest or fields, it is a lovely part of the country and we would gallop along free as the wind. She would get excited and sometimes she'd take me for a little gallop by herself but always if I asked her to reign back she would, she never once ran off with me in a disobedient manner.

Nothing can compare to the feeling of galloping through the forest on your own horse, a magnificent animal who is many times stronger than me but who is as gentle as a lamb with me. To be able to teach a young horse to do new things and see her have faith in you, trusting you as you trust her. It is something that is built up over time but it is the most wonderful bond to have. Now she is a little older but just as beautiful as ever, just as much fun to own. She still doesn't have much of a tail though. Maybe she never will have a big long thick tail. Our relationship just grows deeper and deeper, it is almost as though she knows what I am thinking when I ride I don't need to ask her to go here or there, she just knows what I want. It is the best feeling in the world and one of the rare privileges in life to own and love a horse like Cheyenne.