Horses, rain and memorable times

This is from a time when I was a horse woman in the Himalaya. With 27 horses to feed, money was always short and life was tough. We hadn’t achieved success in business yet and the love for horses was such, that I’d rather stay hungry myself than compromise with my herd’s comfort in any way. This attitude had blessed my livestock with the reputation of being the best and one of the biggest herds in the region.

Part of my daily responsibilities in the winter was taking the horses out to graze in the open land in and around whatever village we currently were in. A duty considered dull and boring by most horsemen, was my delight. I used to take along books to read, some knitting or even saddlery that needed mending and settle down in a shady spot watching my horses graze and have a good time in general.

This used to help me keep track of their healths as well, and I was fortunate that our horses never suffered long from any discomfort. I used to notice it immediately. All was not a meadow in heaven always though. There were rainy days – both proverbially, and literally.

Rain in the Himalaya is freezing. Like the rest of the sensible folk around me, I didn’t have the option to head home, next to a cozy fire. I could have, if I kept the horses tied up at home, but I knew this was bad for them, to be tied and forced to stand still in freezing rain, so out we all went, regardless of weather.

Then, the time really dragged. An umbrella or raincoat was scant protection when running to stop a horse from entering a field of crops. I used to light a miserable fire under a shady tree and keep it going the best I could in the rain, while sitting on my haunches under my umbrella all day.

Horses are particularly frisky, and naughty in cold weather, and it was mostly running to keep them from causing damage that kept me warm. Those were hard, challenging days.

But they gave returns that were worth every minute of effort. Today, my company is doing well and I have been able to risk all and work hard, because those beloved horses taught me, that no matter what the challenge is, the more honest effort we put in, the more we love our work, the more likely our success becomes. We are showing good progress in fields as varied as corporate training, Himalayan treks, films, websites and even constructing adventure courses and developing campsites and we will continue to grow further, simply because we don’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to make our dreams a reality.