Saturday, July 30, 2005

a morning ride

I saddled Blue up about 6 AM; the weather is inching its way back toward the 90's for a daily high, and I wanted to get a ride in while it was still comfortable for my horse and me.

There was very little traffic on the highway, and it was a most pleasant ride to town.  I rode to my daughter's house and circled it, so if anyone was up and about, they'd see me.  It was obvious they weren't awake.

It surprises me how many people were up, enjoying coffee on their porches and patios.  I love the small-town, rural feel of this area.

About the pictures of my shadow:  As I'm riding, I look down at the distorted view of me on my horse and say to myself, "That's really me!  I have a horse!"

All my childhood I longed for a pony.  I got my first pitiful horse, Ginger, after Cliff and I married and had a couple of babies; she was not well-trained, and we certainly didn't know the first thing about training horses.  But I had my horse, and I rode whenever I could. 

I've had other horses, and most of them had some fault or other.  Lad, a Foxtrotter like Blue, was a pretty good horse, and I often regretted selling him; he was just young and not quite as trustworthy as you would like. 

More recently I had a Tennessee Walker, Pleasure Boy.  He had a wonderful, smooth gait, and I had fun riding him.  However, he wouldn't let us put a child on his back and then lead him.  My granddaughter, Monica, almost got stomped because of this.  In fact, Boy was pretty much a one-person horse.  Oh, and he refused to cross railroad tracks, which prevented my riding down by the river.

Blue, the horse I have now, is my childhood dream come true.  When I look at my shadow as I'm riding him, I know all the other horses in my life only paved the way toward this perfect four-legged gift from God.  All their faults only served to make me appreciate him.

Life is pretty darned good.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I miss being able to sit outside in the AM with my coffee.  :-/  Now, it's either too hot, too many mosquitos, or the yappy neighbor from across the street is out.  Even by the third cup, I'm not ready to deal with her.  Heh...

~Amy

Anonymous said...

When I woke up this morning, Kevin mentioned a weird sight.  He said he got up and sat on the couch to sip his coffee and wake up slowly.  He said, the next thing he knew, there you went past the window on Blue.  LOL  I don't think he was dressed yet, that's why you didn't get a greeting.  Brett and I were still sleeping soundly.  LOL  Only in this town do you see things like that.

Anonymous said...

Good old blue. He does sound like the perfect horse for you and I love the shadows you two made. I also love the pretty church you go to. It looks really peaceful sitting there in the country. Helen

Anonymous said...

Ilove the pictures of you and your "Shadow"  Now tell me why you named him Blue?   Anne

Anonymous said...

LOL The tall shadow picture brought back memories of when I was a child waiting for the bus in the early morning. Shadows were very long and we'd do ballet poses and whatnot to make them look even funnier. :-)