What A Horse Taught Me

Learning to live with, love, and lose the difficult horse that helped me through my depression.

The author with her horse at the animal hospital. Photo by Matthew Michel.

A few weeks ago, I read a story in the New Yorker that reminded me of the horse I rescued this past year. The subtitle of the article caught my attention — why live with a difficult animal? To me, the answer is obvious: because they have something to teach you.

In the New Yorker story, the writer describes attempting to foster a dog with serious behavioral issues. He didn’t trust humans and he acted out aggressively toward them, injuring the writer in several instances. I laughed and cried and empathized with every line of the story, as it often mirrored my own experience rehabilitating and retraining my difficult horse.

Although the New Yorker piece — spoiler alert — does not have a happy ending, when I read it I honestly believed my own story would. I was making significant progress with my problematic pet during the short time she was in my care. The future seemed bright for us both.

Sadly, I was wrong. Although we succeeded in overcoming many of her dangerous behaviors, last week I lost my horse to a sudden and tragic injury. Her life, like the bad dog in the New Yorker story, ended in euthanasia.