It isn't that they didn't like you,
it's just that some people simply don't understand horses.
But children seem to survive
being tossed from a horse better than us old folks. They bounce, we
don't. They can shrug it off, we hurt for days. Such wonderful
memories....
When I was a girl....a long time
ago....any horse over 8 years old was considered too old to buy. No
kidding! My first horse was a 5-year-old Morgan cross, but she had been
ridden into the nearest village, through which the only highway ran, and was
tied to a power pole in front of the grocery store...every single day...by the
man who owned and rode her. We bought her because she was one of two only
horses we knew of locally, and the man who owned both was willing to sell one
(for $150, the going cost of a horse in those days). As I remember her,
she was a bit stubborn but quite bomb-proof. When a 4-lane freeway was
being constructed near our home a few years later, I used to go out and take a
fast ride into Santa Cruz (CA) on the under-construction route. I used to
gallop along, dodging earthmovers and bulldozers. Interesting enough, the
men operating the equipment did not seem concerned. Those were in the days
before OSHA. :-)))
Another harebrained thing I did was
ride her into the ocean and swim...parallel to the beach across the
current. That had the most rhythmic feeling. We can hardly get our
Arabs to put a foot into the surf but this mare went in without protest and
swam. So much fun...but it could have been dangerous had I really thought
about it.
