The Meeting

Normally when a girl brings her boyfriend home for the first time, she’s terrified that her parents will hate him…or tell way too many embarrassing stories! I was not worried when my parents met Ryan, because I knew they would love him. I was more worried about Ryan meeting Dancer! You see, Dancer has a certain “way” with people he doesn’t know. Or people that he thinks he can scare easily. I’m used to his orneriness, but others tend to be a little wary of him when he gets that look in his eye.

Well, Ryan and I weren’t exactly dating at the time but we were spending so much time together that it was only a matter of time before one of us made it “official”. (I think it was actually made “official” just a few weeks after this meeting…if you can believe that!) I wanted Ryan to meet Dancer because he’d been listening to me chatter incessantly about him and other horse related things for months. Ryan said he used to ride with his Aunt when he was younger, and I knew he liked animals, so I figured they’d get along great!

The opportunity finally came when Ryan was coming out to my parent’s house – Dancer’s home at the time – for dinner and to play games. He arrived a little before feeding time, so I thought it would be a good idea to introduce him to Dancer then. He went down to the pasture to say “hi” while I went to get Dancer’s food. I stood around to make sure things were OK before I went to get Dancer’s dinner and everything seemed to be fine. Ryan looked slightly nervous as he reached out to let Dancer sniff him…and finally Dancer seemed to be OK with Ryan petting him.

When I returned, things were just as I had left them and I gave Dancer his food. I was very relieved that they had gotten along and that Dancer hadn’t tried anything….or so I thought. Months after we’d been dating, the truth finally came out! Ryan recounted the moments of that fateful day. They are as follows…

Ryan had been more nervous than I thought about meeting Dancer and was reluctant to put his fingers so close to such a gigantic set of teeth. But, he somehow managed to make it look like he was enjoying the experience and even smiled a few times as he pet Dancer. When I walked away to get the food, Dancer became more curious and began to sniff Ryan thoroughly. This made Ryan more nervous than before and he frantically looked back to see if I was coming back yet. That’s when Dancer made his move – he quickly bit Ryan’s shoulder and then returned to looking “normal” seconds later when I arrived with his food. Neither one said anything and pretended things were fine.

I felt awful that this had happened and told Ryan that I wished he had let me know before. He went on to reveal the reason behind all of the secret keeping…he was DEATHLY ALLERGIC TO HORSES!!! As he told me, I remembered that just days after the incident I had been worried about the sudden “sinus infection” and its severity. I also remembered Ryan telling me that he was highly allergic to a specific type of weed and that we must have some growing in the pasture – I totally believed it.

Ryan had also confessed that he didn’t want to tell me about his horse allergy because he was afraid I wouldn’t like him. We had really started to connect and enjoy each others’ company and he was afraid it would end our relationship before it even had a chance to get started. I was shocked and sad at the same time. Shocked that he hadn’t told me about this awful experience and sad that he couldn’t experience any of the wonderful things that go along with owning and riding horses. I also couldn’t believe that the source of such a violent allergic reaction could have been my horse! I didn’t even know it was possible to be allergic to horses! But, when I seriously thought about it, it didn’t matter whether or not he was allergic to horses. Yes, it would make life a lot more challenging for us. And yes, I would have to be way more careful than ever when I came back from the barn, but it was definitely worth it!

Now, years later, we’re married and live on a horse ranch! Ryan has started allergy testing and will hopefully begin shots someday soon to help his allergies. We’ve managed to survive the challenges that have come with his allergy and I think Dancer has finally started to warm up to Ryan! Well…at least he hasn’t tried to bite him recently!