Comments on: Death toll from road accidents 390 times that from terrorism http://www.ridingtoursblog.com/2008/06/03/death-toll-from-road-accidents-390-times-that-from-terrorism/ Horseback Riding Vacations and Equestrian Instruction Worldwide Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:08:01 -0800 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.5 By: Bill Sockwell http://www.ridingtoursblog.com/2008/06/03/death-toll-from-road-accidents-390-times-that-from-terrorism/comment-page-1/#comment-623 Bill Sockwell Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:55:32 +0000 http://www.ridingtoursblog.com/?p=229#comment-623 As best my recollection serves a quote from Gibran (The Prophet, etc.) went something like, Comfort entered the home, first welcomed as a guest, only later to become the master. Had I been out looking for comfort amd "safety" I probably never would have crawled up on the back of a horse in the first place. I had no interest at all in the beasts until age 35 and then only to go along with and appease a wife after buying a horse farm. I was among the worst riders any unlucky horse could have suffered during those first two or three years and yet they tolerated me as did my wife hearing my endless complaints. Decades later, I look back with gratitude to my nagging wife and those disobedient, "stubborn" horses whom patiently put up with me. Some years later, this very same nagging wife found a brochure called Equitours and yet again, much protest I found myself on a HORSE out in the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India precisely when the Gulf War of 1991 broke out---and I was ABSOLUTELY LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Great horses, great new friends, great food, great outfit (Equitours), and even my wife showed improvement! "Safety" and "Comfort" lost the inner battle to the passion found riding a fresh horse over new country. The safety and comfort those damn politicians are now trying to sell us is found on the sofa behind a locked door and thats far too high a price to pay for regrets. As best my recollection serves a quote from Gibran (The Prophet, etc.) went something like, Comfort entered the home, first welcomed as a guest, only later to become the master. Had I been out looking for comfort amd “safety” I probably never would have crawled up on the back of a horse in the first place. I had no interest at all in the beasts until age 35 and then only to go along with and appease a wife after buying a horse farm. I was among the worst riders any unlucky horse could have suffered during those first two or three years and yet they tolerated me as did my wife hearing my endless complaints. Decades later, I look back with gratitude to my nagging wife and those disobedient, “stubborn” horses whom patiently put up with me.

Some years later, this very same nagging wife found a brochure called Equitours and yet again, much protest I found myself on a HORSE out in the Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India precisely when the Gulf War of 1991 broke out—and I was ABSOLUTELY LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT. Great horses, great new friends, great food, great outfit (Equitours), and even my wife showed improvement!

“Safety” and “Comfort” lost the inner battle to the passion found riding a fresh horse over new country.
The safety and comfort those damn politicians are now trying to sell us is found on the sofa behind a locked door and thats far too high a price to pay for regrets.

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