my horse- my hero

I was just reading a really good book, The Revolution in Horsemanship, and it was making me think about my experiences with Sunny. The book details the history of Natural Horsemanship and it is very good at describing the similarities and differences between various clinicians. One thing that they all have in common is that they focus on the relationship.
Now, not having had Sunny very long (9 months now) I am of the opinion that our relationship will only get better. Especially considering that a lot of the time I have had him has been winter months, and I havn't been outside much.
Sometimes our horses do dumb things, sometimes they scare us with bad behaviour, and sometimes they react badly to everyday things. Most of the time we NEED to be the leader for our horse- otherwise things will get very dangerous , very quickly. Other times, the horse can take the lead and help us. Thankfully, that doesn't need to happen very often and I've never seen it where the horse then takes over the rest of the relationship and always wants to be boss thereafter. I have been riding for 7 years, and I have seen several instances of this happening. It never happened to me- until last fall soon after I bought Sunny. We were riding in a field not too far from our house- less than a mile- in really tall grass. Suddenly Sunny just froze and stared ahead. Less than 12 feet in front of us I saw the retreating form of a mountain lion, also known as cougars, big cats, etc. I wasn't caring too much about what to call it then though! I could see part of it's back, the tail, and huge paws. (I would like to note that spotting a wildcat is not common in our part of central Illinois!)
I remember turning him around, and the next thing I knew Sunny was standing on the sidewalk at home and Mom was coming outside wanting to know why I was shaking. I don't know if I fainted or what... but Sunny will always be hero for taking care of me. I am totally positive on any other horse, I wouldn't even have been given a chance to see what scared him but been left on the ground as he put as much distance as possible between the cat and him.
Sunny has met his share of things that scare him. But on the two things that scare both of us, he has taken awesome care of me. The other one was the two protective dogs. Both times, I knew he was scared, but he knew I was too, and though that probably did make him more nervous it also made him protective of me. So, we may not have the kind of relationship that lets us go into an arena and show off for a huge crowd, or the kind that lets me jump him over huge obstacles bareback and bridleless (or even ride without at least a halter) but... we are building a trust relationship. Maybe the rest will come someday, maybe not. But for now... I'll take what I have, and that is a super Curly with a heart of solid gold.
This poem was not written by anyone I know, but it could easily have been written by any horse lovin' girl. I don't know who the author is.

An ode to my valentine

I love to hear you breathe,
I love to watch you run,
I love the way your eyes
Glisten in the sun.
You could be my knight
Powerful and strong,
With will to please and steady knees
And flowing hair, so long.
Always a perfect gentleman
The only guy I'll ever trust,
You know this relationship
Is built on love, not lust.
Here's to Mr. Right,
Here's to my pride and joy,
Here's to my favorite horse,
Who's better than any boy.