The Entertainer

“I’m still an entertainer and always will be... Everyone can go where their mind takes them.  You can live in imaginary places without feeling the real terror or the real pain.  I make the images.  I open the door.  I can inflame….and I can heal…and comfort…and get people to understand.”  
                                                               - From Wild Horses by Dick Francis

I have been rereading many of the books by Dick Francis.  His words captivate me.  No matter what subject, he writes with such a sense of knowing.  Based on his writing, I’d say he could give “The Most Interesting Man in the World” a run for his money.  Either that or he is incredibly good at research.  To my knowledge, his works are in no way autobiographical, but they read with the same sense of realism.  He is truly an entertainer.  He brings the passions and pains of lives we will never live straight into our hearts.  

I’m not sure that it is just a coincidence that his subject always involves horses.  Like Francis, horses have a way of filling us.  They can both fill our hearts and dash our spirits.  They create a fantasy world for us.  Through our love of the equine, we meet new people, learn new things, travel to new places, reach peaks of euphoria and hit rock bottom.  They teach us to love selflessly.  We learn discipline and reward.  Horses, simply, open our eyes to a new way of viewing the world.

For some, the closest they will get to these equines is in fantasy.  They are the subjects of dreams and the backdrops of mystery.  I was cautioned as a teen, to keep my passion and my hobby separate from my job.  I took the advice and always wondered if I made the correct choice.  Slowly I am coming to the realization that for now, they were absolutely correct.  We all need our fantasies.  We all need a place to which we can escape.  Horses offer that safe haven.  I am blessed to have them.

In turn, I have always hoped to share them with others.  They are too great a gift to keep tucked away.  I hope that through this blog, through the helmet cam videos, through pictures and Facebook posts, that you get to share in the fantasy world.  I used to dream of becoming a professional rider, of managing a huge yard of horses, of sponsorships, and of living the professional life.  Turns out I am living the life.  It is just from a Fresh Perspective.  I am too an entertainer.   All I ever wanted to do was share the passion and let you into my fantasy.  I don’t have to be a professional athlete to share the dream.

“He’s playing at what he wouldn’t really like to be, but the imagining of it fills and satisfies him…A good strong fantasy life, I’d guess, saves countless people from boredom and depression.  It gives them a feeling of being individual."       
                                                                                - Dick Francis, Wild Horses

Thank you, Admiral, for reminding me of the joy horses can bring.