"The Old Red Horse"

A story from the notebook ... you may wonder in that first sentence what in the world golf has to do with an old red horse ...

THE OLD RED HORSE

Mom and Dad played golf, especially Dad. Among their golfing friends were Mr. and Mrs. P_ R_, who lived on a ranch south of S_. They had invited my folks to come visit them sometime, so we took off one evening and went down to see them. This was before I got my own horse [I think], but I was definitely in the "horse fever" stage. As it turned out, they had an old, red horse out in the corral they said I could ride if I wanted to. You can guess what my immediate answer was.

So Mr. R_ saddled this red horse, and I enjoyed a really nice time of riding in the pasture south of the house. (The adults went inside and visited!) It's pretty country down through there, near the C_ River. Of course, my mind at the time was on the deliriously blissful fact that I was RIDING A HORSE!

Finally it was time to go, so we were all out at the corral, and we got the horse unsaddled, and I think I might've even brushed him some, or maybe I did that before we saddled him, I'm not sure. I had mostly walked and trotted him, with only a little cantering a time or two. (Remember, he was an OLD red horse.) They said they appreciated me riding him easy, and not running him to pieces like some kids might've done. That stuck with me, and made me realize all the more how important it is to be careful with other peoples' things, and how they appreciate that care. Thus ended a nice interlude involving an "old red horse."