Scorpio: The Life-Saving Stallion

Looking back on it, getting my horse, Scorpio, wasn’t an indulgence. It was a necessity. Although, to be fair, we didn’t know it back then.

I’m eighteen now and people don’t expect people my age to know what its like to experience true sadness.  Honestly, I know what depression is and I know what sadness is. Depression was my life from the age of about six.

You see I’m a mix between skater boy and a super intense nerd. Well, if you like to use labels, I think those two are the closest you’ll find. I love to learn. In fact, I would rather read a textbook than play a videogame, any day. Yet, I don’t look like your average, stereotypical, nerd. My parents have never been rich, we don’t go skiing, and I don’t wear plaid pants and suspenders along with a pocket protector with lots of pens in it. Nahh,I just wear bright t-shirt and jeans with skater trainers. I don’t really talk like a nerd either – you may have noticed!

So, all in all, other kids never knew where I fit in and we all know what this means, right? Bullying: in the extreme. I was pushed, I was kicked and I was taunted everywhere I went. Even the school nerds wouldn’t accept me. I just didn’t fit in anywhere, other than my bedroom.  It got so bad that I stopped going to school – I made up new illnesses and excuses all the time.  In the back of my head, there was a little voice telling me to end it – that would stop the bullying.  At this point, I was nine, for god sake!

When I was ten, my beloved father decided to take things into his own hands. He gave up his job, took me out of school and became my teacher. My dad was incredibly clever, so home schooling was awesome! I could truly be myself, learning at the rate of knots and I loved every second of it. My dad became my hero.

On 22nd November 2008, my world came crashing down around me! My dad, my hero, was killed in a car accident. He had gone to collect a parcel of teaching aids, when a drink-driver slammed into him. Dad was killed instantly: he wasn’t even given a chance to take a last deep breath.

Now is not really the time for me to go into the loss of my father. This story is about Scorpio – my second hero. But I will say this, life was dark, there wasn’t a day that went by without me thinking I needed to leave this world. I guess my mum kept me here!

My dad had life insurance – he was always thinking of others. When my mum got the payout, she desperately wanted to use it on something for me: something to improve my life. So, she bought Scorpio!  Sound ridiculous? Yup, I thought so too! I was furious that she had wasted so much of dad’s money on a dumb horse.  I even refused to go and see it for months! I did not want a horse, I was a guy, as if I didn’t get bullied enough!

After a while though, I felt compelled to go and see Scorpio. I figured that if my dad’s money had been spent on this damn horse, the least I could do was look after it for him. I owed my dad that much.  I never looked back.

Scorpio was a great way for me to feel connected to my dad.  I spent every second I could with Scorpio – riding him, cleaning him and feeding him. I even took my books to the stables and studied with him.  I also went back to school.  It was tough and I had to keep my head down most of the time. But I no longer felt like life wasn’t worth living.

A few years later, I’ve just got straight As in my exams and have been accepted to one of the best universities in Britain – Cambridge. It’ll be tough to be away from Scorpio and my mum. But this was always the goal and they got me here.