I hadn’t realised how frightened I had become of horses until I met my now wife.  She had grown up with horses all her life and had started horse riding at the age of 4, so to her horses were nothing to be frightened of.  Whenever we went to visit her horses I always made excuses for not going in to the field with them, not wanting to admit I was frightened so early in our relationship.  Being over 6 foot tall and in the army I didn’t think it would do my big manly image any good, so I kept my fears to myself.

    I could only keep making excuses for so long and eventually I had to go into the horses paddock, it was a time that will stick in our memories forever.  It was a cold January evening and I had offered to drive my wife up to the paddock where her horses were stabled to bring them in for the night.  As it was dark my wife asked me to hold the lantern for her, being very cold and windy I had to agree, so we set off across the open field to the horses stables.  My heart was pounding and I could feel myself tensing up with nerves from the fear of knowing I was only yards away from loose horses.  It didn’t help me when my wife mentioned she was looking after a friends horse called Flame that “could be a bit feisty”.

    I offered to make a start on mixing the feed whilst my wife rounded up the horses and brought them into the stables, thinking that this would be a much safer option.  The food store was a small lock up at the side of the stables and was surrounded by various barrels and bins for feeding the horses.  

    This is where my memory of events gets a little bit blurry, so i have to rely on my wife’s recollection of the story.  As she was rounding up the horses Flame was being even more feisty than usual and wouldn’t come in.  Now, we aren’t sure if it was the strong winds or seeing me at the feed store, but he suddenly bolted towards the stables.  Realising where he was heading, my wife tried shouting me to warn me.  Unfortunately, because of the strong winds I couldn’t hear her until it was too late.  I remember feeling the thud of hooves on the ground so I looked round to see what was happening.  Suddenly right in front of me coming out of the darkness into the dim light of the lantern was what was to me the biggest angriest looking horse I had ever seen.  Now, I’m not sure if it was instincts or just stone cold fear (I like to think it was my military training!) but realising I was penned in and the only way out was past this “wild slavering beast” within a flash I’d vaulted onto a 50 gallon drum and had pulled myself up on to the roof of the stables and was now perched on the edge of the pre fabricated stable roof, screaming at the top of my voice for my wife to get Flame away from me.  Flame at this point had his head stuck in the feed barrel and seemed unaware of me even being there on the roof.  

    Finally, once my wife had stopped rolling around on the floor with laughter she came and took Flame into his stable and I came down off the roof. Not taking any chances I made a run for it across the field to my car where i stayed until she had finished with the horses.

My wife helped me to over come my fears by finding the right horse riding training which let me build up my confidence and I’ve never looked back.