Sinnamon Twist

Story written 1997, last revised January 2002

I was never particularly interested in horses. It was only in February of '96 that I became involved in volunteering for an association that rescues abused and abandoned horses. We thought that was such a wonderful thing to do, so my family began going out there every chance we got. It was wonderful... Watching the sun rise as we drove over the tall Texas hills, the smell of hay, grass, and horse feed, the warm feel of horse fur against our faces on a cold Saturday morning ........ there's nothing quite like it.

I had mentioned some things about this wonderful place to my flute teacher, and she knew how much I loved horses and all animals. She had two of her own show horses, not to mention other pets I was always playing with whenever I was visiting her home. It was in November of '96 that she told me it was beginning to get really hard for her to keep both of her horses. She had thought up a solution, though. She planned to get two of her students to take riding lessons, and lease one of the horses. It would only be $100 a month per student. They would go out whenever they wished, learn to ride, and it would cover the costs. She told me about this and asked if I'd be interested. I eagerly jumped at the opportunity! Soon afterwards, Mom and I went out to visit the horse we'd heard so much about, and loved him immediately. He was so beautiful! He was a six year old, all white, Arabian gelding with dapple grey spots on his hind quarters. He had very long white eyelashes, and his fur was incredibly soft. His name was Sinnamon Twist. Everyone called him Twister, for short.

My flute teacher told me about two weeks later that she didn't have any other students who wanted to lease him. She wasn't going to be able to afford both of her horses any longer. She would have to sell one of them. Both of her horses were Arabian show horses. One of them (the white one) had somewhat uneven legs and nervous behaviour that prevented her from taking him to high competition shows. So he was the one she decided to sell.

When I told my mom this, we were both sad. We had fallen in love with this wonderful creature. We thought about it and discussed it, and finally, we decided that we would buy him! I was ecstatic! I was about to own my very first horse....

We would not have decided to do this had the conditions not been so wonderful. He would be boarded about 15 minutes from our home, on the privately owned property he had lived on his entire life. The rest of his horse family including his mother and brothers, also lived there. He would be stabled for part of the day and (since I decided I did not want to show him) let loose to roam many acres of woods as he pleased for the rest of the day. His meals were taken care of by the people there, too. My job was to go out there to ride him, which gave us both a work out. I brushed him, scraped gunk out of his hooves, and gave him baths in warm weather. I really enjoyed his company. I always brought treats, hugs, and lots of love. Sinnamon Twist was mine. Amazing!

I had a lot of fun with riding lessons. My riding instructor would have loved for me to show him, but I simply did not feel that was what was best for me or Twister. This is what I know ..... When he was a show horse, he was stabled a lot of the time to keep him from getting dirty. He has a nervous personality and sensitive skin. He scratched and chewed on his itchy fur quite frequently. When I got him, I decided to have him out of his stall for most of the day, to be in the clean air, sunshine, and play with the other horses. His scratching went down considerably after that. I had also been told by the people who own the property that he was much happier after being allowed to run free most of the day. I wouldn't take that away from him again.

I like to ride because it's fun, it's exercise, and I'm actually good at it. The first time I was on him and we went trotting, I was so scared, I thought I was going to die. The only other time I'd been on a horse was when I was about five years old. Here I am, several years later, learning to ride. It was pretty terrifying. When I got over that fear, there was cantering. The only way I can describe these gaits is by relating them to music. I have been studying music for about six years now. When a horse is just walking, it is like playing most pieces of music. When a horse trots, which is twice as fast as walking, it is like playing a march. When a horse goes even faster, it is called cantering. This is like playing a waltz. Cantering is scary, because I feel like I'm so high up in the air, when I'm really not. I started getting used to it though.

I always had fun, even when a couple of scary things happened. A few times, he slipped in the mud on rainy days. It also scared me when he would canter very fast. I would sometimes have a hard time slowing him down. One time, I was trying out an English saddle. I realise now that I probably should have waited longer for the ground to dry before riding in a new saddle. It had rained a few days before-hand, and as Twister started to slip, I started to fall with him. I reached down for the horn of the saddle, which was not there since this was an English saddle, not the Western saddle I was used to. I grabbed his mane instead --thankfully, horses cannot feel anything in their manes-- and I pulled myself back on top. When I told my riding instructor that I had almost fallen off of him, she asked me,