Rocky Mountains - Hi!

I didn't expect to be accepted by any place offering courses in equine massage. After all, my only experience with horses was a few riding lessons. I considered one place out east and another out west. There are several places from which to choose, but those two sort of stood out to me.

East? Or West? What was I thinking? There was no real choice. West, of course!! If I'm going on a road trip I'm heading West!

The place that I applied to, and was accepted by, was Equitouch, based in Loveland, Colorado. I figured that they figured you're serious if you are willing to spend the money to do this...and if you're willing to do the 40-hour at-home course on equine anatomy that was required.

Holy cow. That equine anatomy nearly did me in. A very large book had arrived and I was expected to complete it on my own, prior to my arrival in Loveland. So, I put myself on a schedule and studied it and completed it in what I calculated to be a little over 40 hours. Apparently, I was on target with that.

I hadn't studied biology of any kind since college and that had been human. Much of equine anatomy was completely foreign to me and some of it seemed vaguely familiar and some of it was information I had picked up in my reading over the years. I did know a hock from a fetlock and a stifle from a poll. Hmmm...maybe I'm not as ignorant as I thought!

Nothing better than getting in your car and hitting the open road. As I drove west the horizons opened, the skies cleared (literally - it was raining/snowing when I left in October), and my eyeballs felt relief over looking at absolutely nothing. Sigh...and when I finally stopped for the night, in Valentine, Nebraska, and went to dinner who did I see? Cowboys!

Why the sight of men in cowboy boots and plaid shirts with big belt buckles makes me happy, I am not sure. But it does, and did that night. After driving all day and looking at a lot of South Dakota (I'd come from Minnesota) it was great to sit down and have a steak. Yes, I did. It seemed the thing to do. There are plenty of cowboys in Minnesota, but somehow seeing them in their "native habitat" was more special. Like looking at the buffalo on the open range instead of inside a fence. I suppose that's not necessarily a compliment to them, from their viewpoint, but I sure mean it that way.

Maybe, because out there that's just what they do. It's who they are. Seeing a guy in a Vikings cap doesn't do all that much for me here, but maybe to someone from elsewhere it would seem charming and quaint? Don't know about that.

Cowboys are part of American myth and lore -- what makes Americans so American! However much of it is glorified and embellished upon from the historical reality, the cowboy legends and stories are still bigger than life. And what would cowboys be without their trusty horse?

Horses have done a lot for us humans. Part of the reason I wanted to learn massage was so I could not only be around them, but to give something back to them. It was to be a way of saying thank you to the horse. Reading Black Beauty as a kid only made me regret human nature and how we tend to use things. I like getting a massage; I was sure horses would like it, too.

The next day I drove into Colorado. Those mountains kept getting closer and closer. I settled into my Bed & Breakfast (yeah, I was really roughing it) in Loveland for the night and looked forward to the next part of my adventure. I was nervous. This was going to change my life, I knew.