giddy up

my mother was born and raised in preston, idaho (of napoleon dynamite fame), and my grandfather ran a farm. he was a large animal veterinarian and raced quarter horses. what that meant was that summer vacations often consisted of time at the farm with the family.

it’s amazing how a child can turn a farm in the middle of nowhere (at the time) into a playground. there was the horse walker that we loved to hook swings to and go round and round and round. there was the barn with the trap door for hay, that we used in the most mischevous ways imaginable. there was walking to will-o-way (now a burger king owned by karl malone) to pick up bubble gum for the bubble blowing competitions. there was grandma’s jewelry, which spawned several dance routines, the most memorable of which was madonna’s ‘material girl’. and there were the ‘cousin wars’--no holds barred prank battles between the boys and the girls. falling hay when walking through a doorway, putting makeup on the sleeping boy cousins while they slept (when boys sleep, they REALLY sleep), baking powder in bed, you name it.

but one of my fondest memories from those summer vacations were the horses. in fact, horses have been the conduit for some of my most memorable experiences. i must have been 7 or 8 when i rode my first horse. uncle verl pulled out one of the non-racers and brought her to the corral, where i climbed aboard. after about a half hour, when i showed no signs of being remotely done with the experience, he asked me if i was ok, and headed back inside. he would come and check on me from time to time, and after several hours of circling that 30 X 30 corral, i finally just felt bad that he had to keep coming out, so i got off. i could have stayed on that horse forever. i would have been happy falling asleep on it’s back.

that was the first, but not the last of my horse experiences. i had a lot of chances to ride when visiting the farm. some were thoroughly enjoyable and some (like the time i got dragged by a racehorse, unable to get my foot out of the stirrup) were a little more painful. good or bad, equine love is in my blood.

since then, i’ve had multiple opportunities, the most memorable of which took place a long way from preston. i’ve ridden on work retreats, dated guys with horses, and had random other opportunities arise, but between living in northern virginia, and grandpa’s passing, they have been far fewer.

i could ride every day and be happy, but every once in awhile i get an undeniable craving to be on the back of a horse, and i got one last week. knowing that lara is a horse lover as well, i asked her if she’d be interested, and we made plans to play hookey today to get our fix in.

we headed out to marriott ranch, where we saddled up and hopped on our horses for the hour and a half ride. it was a small group--our guide, lara and i, and a young couple--and it was nearly perfect. sunny and cool, and the leaves were in fine color. my horse was a dream, responding to the slightest movement of the reigns, and truth be told, i could have dropped them and would have been fine. i was in good hands, or on them, 15 or so. lara got a bit of a grasseater, but fortunately there were long stretches of the ride that were not grassy.

all in all, it was an amazing day, and an amazing way to spend a friday afternoon.

for the rest of the pics, click here.