Leasha

In order to tell you my personal testimony of Midori Morgan, I must first entertain you with the story of how I came to be with horses and how I found my passion, lost it and found it again in a most unexpected place. I must tell you that I generally keep these things to myself and that as I write this… I realize Midori herself did not  even know the true extent of my story before I wrote this…

Once upon a time, there was a little girl who dreamed of working with horses. I was four years old when I realized my passion and seven when I decided horses would forever be in my life. My godmother instilled in me a love for horses that still proves relentless

When I turned four years old my godmother took me on my first trail ride. My mother sat behind me on the horse as I pretended to know what I was doing sitting all the way up there.  From the back of that scraggly gray mare I could see the world and go anywhere I wanted to (so long as she was following the horse in front of her.)  At that moment a seed was planted that would forever help me to decide which roads I would choose in life. 

“Wicky” was the greatest horse I’d ever known at the age of seven.  He was nothing more than a small dull bay horse that had learned to babysit children, but I loved him.  For my seventh birthday my godmother paid for me to have a few riding lessons.  On Wicky, I learned the traditional basics of riding a horse and instantly decided it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.  After a few lessons I had to say good-bye to Wicky, but my godmother promised she would continue to teach me how to ride.  Her horse “Excel” became my new love.  She was a cute flea-bitten gray that was just a little too tall for me to reach her back when I would brush her.

I remember, all too well, the time I fell off Excel.  I had graduated to riding without being on the lounge line and I was feeling confident.  There was another horse in the pasture next to the little dirt arena that wanted to play too.  As he ran past Excel, she decided to join in the fun and ran around the arena until she got to the gate and stopped dead in her tracks.  I landed there just near her feet.  Aside from a nasty bruise on my hip I was fine.  It was then that my godmother looked at me and told me it was time to get back on.  It was after I got back on that she told me something that I have always said to myself every time I hit the dirt.  She said, “You have to fall off seven times before you become a good rider.”

With that thought in mind, I found myself fearless… unafraid and stupidly confident around every horse with every kind of temperament. I was known among friends to go into a trance-like state when working with a particularly difficult horse. The amount of patience I had was endless and I all of the sudden wanted to be a horse trainer. I floated about from opportunity to opportunity trying to find my niche in the world of horses. This passion took me from a small Arabian show horse barn at 13 to an equine science degree in Arizona. It was there that I made friends with a girl who let me work with horses from all walks of life. The Thoroughbreds I worked with were my favorite, and prior to that, I caught a bit of racing fever thinking I would one day be a famous trainer and maybe even the first woman trainer to ever win the Kentucky Derby. I fell off one other horse during all that time… with little injury and an unwavering sense of confidence and passion to keep on doing what I was doing.

Everything changed when I arrived in Kentucky where I attended an internship program that placed me on a very prestigious race horse farm. I was to learn how to start the yearlings under saddle. Young I know… but in the industry, well, that is just the way it was and, since the opportunity to learn how to start a horse was presented to me, I was not about to question it. I was ready for anything they might throw at me and falling off was nothing more than another step towards being a good rider. While I was there I fell off three times… each with slightly more force and injury than the last. By the end of the season I was feeling defeated and was really quite angry at the fact that falling off seemed to take me further away from the things I wanted to achieve. The source of the problem was not that I was testing fate by trying to ride these yearlings… but that each time I fell off I was ignoring my limits as well as everything the horse was trying so hard to tell me.  I had a big problem with balance and the yearlings had a big problem with someone climbing on their back and asking them to do too much. Mind you, their methods were not cruel or even rushed as one would expect, but I knew something was missing in all of this.

After I completed my internship in Kentucky I found my way back to Arizona to finish my degree then found myself packing up my little blue truck once again to move back here to California.  For the first couple years here I attempted to find places to ride and opportunities to work with racehorses. It was about two and a half years ago when I fell for the 6th time. Truth is, at this point, I was out of riding shape and I had been there the day before riding in the indoor arena (practicing the two point position that is so popular when riding racehorses). So the next day I was trotting this beautiful dapple grey thoroughbred around the track even though I was exhausted and did not have the strength to hold him back from a full gallop. Needless to say it wasn’t long before my right foot came out of the stirrup and I was headed for the ground. Unfortunately my left foot got stuck in the stirrup and I was dragged for a few seconds until he kicked me free. I lay there… completely emotionally shattered… knowing that I would not ride for that lady ever again. Knowing that she was not going to let me get back on, when everything in my body screamed to “get right back on”. So, covered in mud, I drove myself down the road to the home of another lady I knew with some trail horses and I begged her to let me on for just a walk around… I knew if I did not get on I may never ride again. She tried hard not to laugh and we saddled up a couple of her horses and took a short ride. It wasn’t more than 20 minutes before I realized I was in real pain and that I should perhaps get myself home.

From there my confidence was shattered and for the first time in my life my passion for horses was fading. I had lost faith in them and in myself. What was worse is I could not ride in front of other people anymore. I felt they were judging everything I was doing with the horse even when I knew that what the horse was telling me was right and what they were telling me was wrong… all wrong.  I had forgotten how to listen to the horse, forgotten how to listen to myself… and forgotten how to relax and have patience.

One other thing happened right before I found Midori… in June of 2007 my godmother passed away. My passion and confidence had gone and so had the person that gave me that gift in the first place. I was lost. I was angry. I was searching for something more than harsh bits and heavy hands. I knew in my heart the kind of horsemanship I was looking for… but I wasn’t sure that taking lessons was where I could find it. Like I said I was afraid to work with a horse in front of anyone. I was afraid of having someone tell me what to do with the horse knowing it would only have me end up on the ground again. This time I knew it was the feel I was looking for… but I needed someone to show me how to get that back and feel that connection again. I didn’t think that truly and purely existed in a lesson atmosphere… until I was online one night and I found this website. Midori and her horses called to me… as a safe, warm, comforting place to learn, heal, and grow.

The first time I worked with “Red” I was a mess… it took me a couple lessons to even leave the round pen… but Midori never pressed me for more than I could handle and Red took care of me. As a girl who has galloped yearlings and worked with less than halter-broke horses, these days I still have yet to get up the courage to move “Red” into a lope… but Midori never makes me feel like I am moving slowly… instead she finds small but valuable things for me to work on from the ground and at the walk & trot. I am still a work in progress and I have all the faith in Midori and Red and now (thanks to them) myself that I will be a great rider and horsewoman. Because of Midori and Red, I have found my patience, my passion and I have learned to respect my limits and listen to the horse once again. Most importantly I have found what I have been looking for, which is a way of BEING with horses.

I’d like to think that my 7th fall has been more of a leap… of faith. It took a lot for me to reach out to Midori and her horses, but they have never let me down. Midori is a wonderfully attentive teacher. She sees the smallest details that I cannot hope to see myself and she helps me to work on those things… no pressure… no rush… no personal agenda. I am not sure that Midori is even aware of all the ways she has helped me… because it is not what she does… it is who she is… and it is the horses she has raised.

I hope you let Midori and her wonderful horses into your life…

Please email me anytime at azseahorse@yahoo.com