Diana owns two horses: Stealth and his younger half-brother, Guaranteed.
Prior to this year, I'd ridden Guaranteed only occasionally and always with Diana. My impression of him was that of an athletic, well trained but bland mount. I liked him okay, but much preferred opinionated, quirky Stealth.
That changed last January. Diana went to California for a couple weeks and asked me if I would ride both boys while she was away. I was happy to oblige, but neither of us thought to warn Guaranteed. He was absolutely dumbfounded when I saddled him up and took him for a ride without Diana present. He could barely walk a straight line, and it was all I could do to get him pointed down the trail. He got better as the ride went on, and I thought we were golden, but no. On our next ride, he went from confused to sulky. Although he was well behaved, he made it clear that this was unacceptable to him, and he was ready for his mom to come home.
Fortunately, the third ride was the charm. For the first time ever, I felt like I got to meet the real Guaranteed. It turns out that he is every bit as interesting and fun to ride as his brother.
I've ridden him many times since then, both with and without Diana. This month, we took our relationship to a new level with our first solo ride.
Diana has been encouraging me to do this for a while, but I wasn't sure we were ready.
As we turned away from the barn, Guaranteed wasn't sure either. I channeled Diana and told him to, "Get up there!" After that, we were just fine.Up the hill. Down the hill.
No one ahead.No one behind.No one as far as the eye could see.
We trotted and cantered and crossed the river multiple times.
I can't believe I used to think this was a boring horse.It's such a privilege having horses like Stealth and Guaranteed in my life. Thank you, Diana, for sharing your boys with me.