In my first post I talked about those moments all horseless and horse crazy girls and boys experience. The thrill of seeing, touching, and if you are lucky, riding a pony or horse any opportunity you could get. Sometimes those chances were few and far between, and you hoped a little bit of that sweet smell of horse might linger on you for a while, keeping you in that world which you craved yet was not yet yours. My sister and I were probably around 7 and 9 years old in these pictures. We were visiting my Nana at her friend's house. We played in the backyard, hopping from garden stone to garden stone. At some point we realized that there was a horse in the pasture across the driveway. Off we went. We fed the gray horse handfuls of clover through the fence and she munched, swishing her black tail at the buzzing flies. There was movement from the little white house....a teenage girl came out and headed towards us. I do not remember what my sister and I said (we were polite but rather reserved children back then.) I do remember following her to the front porch as she went inside to fetch a bridle. She was going to let us ride! She told us the horse was an Arabian, and her name was "
Naseen." That is my guess on the spelling. I am sure it is wrong as Arabians always have fancy name spellings. She put the bridle on
Naseen and then up we were boosted, double style. The warm round mare was kind as my Nana took pictures and the girl led us around the yard. It was heaven. I am sure we were disappointed when it was over. This was not a pony at the fair. This was a real horse! In retrospect, I believe it might have been the first actual
horse I ever sat upon.
I just love the expression of pure joy on my sister's face. She is in the front. She is touching
Naseen's mane like it is spun from gold. But to us, that is what it felt like.
To that teenage girl and her Arabian Naseen, I thank you. If you only knew how much it meant that you took the time to share your little mare with us that day.
Hey Sis, those pix were fun to see. It brought back lots of memories!
ReplyDeleteThis post made me want to cry a little. These were the moments I lived for when I was a kid! I finally have my own horse now that I'm 26, but I still remember the desperate longing for any equine interaction. I laughed where you said you wanted the smell to linger- I totally felt the same way! Love your blog :-)
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