Wishing For a Pony

Yesterday, while visiting our friends Sean and Didi, we hatched another implausible but delightful plan for our local circle of college friends.  Someday, when they perhaps move to a more rural area, we and as many others as we can get involved may possibly collectively buy a horse.

Growing up in Texas, my family was well aware of the stereotype that all proper Texans either own horses or at least know how to ride.  Although that certainly isn't the case in practice, we were fortunate enough to enjoy the horse experience for a few years before we had to move further north.  That was ten years ago, and I've been craving a horse fix ever since.

Me and Chili, winter of 2000.

Even now I can't quite believe my parents let me saddle up Chili Muchacho and wander all over the county at the age of 14.  There's nothing else quite like it.  My husband has been around horses in the past when his brother was receiving hippotherapy, but he's never actually ridden one.  I've tried going on organized trail rides, but it just isn't the same when I'm strapped into protective gear and treated like an idiot who's never so much as seen a horse before.  Besides, never accelerating beyond a plodding walk can be supremely dull.

Someday, when the majority of us aren't just scraping by, paying off our student loans and mortgages, we can pitch in and turn somebody's rural homestead into a weekend getaway for the rest of us.  I know somebody who wants a cow.  We could get a horse, some dogs, and have space to practice some of the other pursuits we've had to give up since moving into more constricted neighborhoods, like archery.  It will be like having the best of both worlds.

That obviously isn't likely to happen anytime soon, but we can dream.

Teaching my baby brother to ride in 2001.