Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Old Friend and New Friend



That's a 26 year old stallion, looking just as pleased as punch to be taking my daughter out for a brisk walk around the farm. (Yeah, OK, that's me barely holding on to a side rein as a safety measure. I guess this means I'm unmasked?)

He was so happy to be ridden, bobbing his head, swishing his tail, stopping at the gate at the entrance to the farm to bellow into the trees, "I'm Heeeerrrrre!"

Soon after this photo, I hopped on and took him for a spin around the side pasture. Round and agile like a bouncing rubber ball, he was. Picked up a canter with barely a nudge and we did a great serpentine all through the pasture. At the close of the serpentine, I felt the saddle leap and lurch--I hadn't tightened the girth after my daughter rode. Saddle went sideways, I went to the ground.

Stallion, being all mean and everything, stopped dead and just looked at me. "You OK?" he asked as he blew warm breath in my hair. I was fine. Felt stupid, but I was fine. After I tightened the girth and took him around again, he retired to his paddock for another round of stallion fights through the fence. "Nyah. Nyah."

I took an additional 350 pictures. When I get home I'll post some more. Maybe not all 350--lots of those are pics of horsie noses blowing sand up the lens--I have some great head shots of some truly lovely Arabians.

10 comments:

Beth said...

Look, it's Suisan! Hi Suisan! And hi, horsey, too.

C2 said...

You can see his grin! :-D And yours, too, of course. LOL

sybil said...

awww you all are too cute

I know a group you can post pictures to and not worry about being unmasked ;). Just saying... hee

~ames~ said...

I am so jealous! That stallion is so beautiful. I haven't gone riding in over 7 years and I truly miss it.

Lucky you!

CindyS said...

Oh you all look so good but seriously, that stallion looks damn good for 26 years! I was picturing more of a middle aged sag in the centre but he is nice and lean. Good on him!

I can't believe you unmasked yourself!! You're such a Zorro freak!

You look great and it's great to 'meet' you. Your daughter is very pretty and she looks very confident in her riding.

CindyS

Suisan said...

Beth- Hi!

C2--yeah, he's grinning. ;-)

Sybil-- thanks. I think we're cute too.

Ames-- I miss it too. A lot. All the time.

Cindy-- I'm thinking the picture is so blurry that I'm not REALLY unmasked. Just un-ummm. Unsillouetted? I dunno. Mostly I thought it was a cute one of my daughter.

And no, my daughter doesn't know how to ride. But that's what a good looking horse does for you--makes you look great. (And he DOES look good for 26 undersaddle. Just standing around in his paddock bored to tears, he looks all droopy and scruffy.) Loves people, he does.

Mailyn said...

why does nobody ride him? don't they let him out to play with the horsies? ok, now I'm just sad cuz the horsie is all sad. :-(

Suisan said...

Mailyn, People ride him, but not so much. This is a private farm--it's not as if there are lots of teenage girls running aroudn the place begging for a mount. This is one guy, his wife, and about 15 horses the won plus a few more hanging out until their owners finish building a barn, or whatever.

And he does get turned out with two stud colts for a few hours every day. But then the stud colts get bruises and bites all over them, which makes visitors think they're nasty. When actually why're just humoring grandpa by letting him beat the snot out of them. (His son, one of the stud colts, mostly just runs away from him.)

He's 26 after all, with arthritic back legs. Mostly I talk about him being os excited and happy to be ridden because it was such a delight to see him once again as I remember him when he looked like this: A 1987 picture

It was like visitng a nursing home to see a beloved uncle only to see him dance the jitterbug during lunch. A surprise and a delight.

Megan Frampton said...

Very late--but what a sweet picture!

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