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Fw: [RC] Safe horses - Barbara McCrary

Rejected the first time because this was too long.
 
Barbara
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 3:01 PM
Subject: Re: [RC] Safe horses

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.
 
Barbara
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 2:00 PM
Subject: RE: [RC] Safe horses

Why is it that my first horse was a 2 yr old Appaloosa that wasn't even halter broke?  I'm beginning to think my parents didn't like me much...