I am Horsaii!

Mugwump coined this word here and I think it is great. Read all the comments, they are very cool. I was going to comment but then I decided to put it into a post. Like the other horsaiis that posted, I cannot remember when I fell for horses. I probably saw horses first in story books. Anyway, I do think I was born with horsaii, because I don't remember ever discovering that horses were cool - they were always amazing and wonderful to me. The first time I ever got to ride one was when I was seven or eight at a circus. We were in the US on furlough and my grandparents took us to a circus and I got to ride the pony ride. (The adults knew they couldn't escape their fate as soon as I saw the ponies!) I believe my pony was a black pinto. I remember wishing desperately that they could untie the pony and let me ride him around. I was sure how I would do great and the pony wouldn't be bored then. I sat very solemnly the whole ride and petted the pony and tried to soak everything in as much as I possibly could. My little brother was really nervous on his pony, I remember that, and my older brother didn't want to ride, as I recall. Weird kids... I talked to the pony some and petted it as much as I could before I absolutely had to leave, looking back the whole time.

My second time riding a horse was later that same summer. My cousin, who was a teenager, had her own horse. I thought she was the luckiest person ever! He is still alive as far as I know - a bay pinto quarab named Classy (just about Mira's age, as a matter of fact). I got to ride Classy two or three times on our visit there, and got to experience my first fall there, too. It wasn't his fault, he just tripped when trotting fast and I flew off in a graceful arc and landed in a clumsy heap, losing my glasses. Maybe that was when me being horsaii was confirmed. I remember feeling really stiff and sore as I got up, but no WAY was I going to WALK back to the house. I couldn't lose my precious and limited riding time just because I fell off. So, I got back on right away. Classy was cute - he obviously was surprised and sorry that I fell off and happy that I was OK.

When I couldn't ride him, I spent every minute available out next to his paddock feeding him pieces of grass and talking to him and, yes, drawing him. I learned a lot about horse conformation during that visit and finally started drawing identifiable horses! :-)

My mother fortunately saw to it that us kids had plenty of books, including lots of horse ones, when we were in the jungle and I spent lots of time playing I was a horse, drawing horses, wondering how much it cost to feed them and how much land an acre was and trying to figure out how tack was arranged from pictures, and hoping as hard as I could that I would see a real live one again soon. Meanwhile, I read all the Black Stallion books and others and absorbed every possible bit of horse handling knowledge. At one point I remember that for a month or two I even collected all the weeds and tall grass I could find and put it in a pile behind our house and hoped and prayed that a "stray" horse would come wandering along (in the slum?!) that needed a home. If I was prepared already then of course my parents would have to let me keep it! Eventually my parents wouldn't let me keep stacking it up anymore...

What is your story? Do you remember the first time you saw a horse, petted a horse, rode a horse? Tell us about it!


L