I love my horse

   I'm 33 and while I hug and kiss my horse Autumn goodnight, I tell her I love her a million times, while my husband prays that no one but him is witnessing this.  Luckily, the only ones that see this are my friends that are doing the same thing with their horses with their men who are hoping, like my husband, that no one is watching.  I can't help it.  I just love my horse. 
     Ever since I got Autumn to the ranch we were close buddies.  With Autumn being only 10 months old when I got her, she was too young to start riding.  Instead, we would go on long walks together around the ranch.  The ranch is beautiful!  The photo on the top of this blog page is the ranch.  Set amongst a redwood forested mountain side in northern California, the ranch is over 300 acres and surrounded by tens of thousands of acres of timber property.  There is a herd of about 40 horses that roam through the forests, graze in the meadows and drink and swim in the numerous ponds and springs.  It's as wild of a life that a domestic horse can have.  It was a far cry the suburban backyard barns with horses stuffed into them that I grew up with  on Long Island.  It's a horse and horsey girl heaven!
   Everyday, we would explore a new trail pushing deeper into the forest of giant trees.  We got so comfortable with each other that I didn't need to keep a halter on her, she would just follow along on her own...Well, sometimes she didn't...Sometimes she would, and still does, shake her head and gallop off with a great big fart and ditch me in the middle of the woods.  But, Autumn never leaves me when I need her.
    When Autumn was about 1&1/2 years old...still a baby....we decided to take a hike to the top of the mountain for some ocean views.  We were midway, squeezing down a narrow path where on one side was a six foot straight drop off the hill side and on the other side was a murky pond, when Autumn hit the breaks.  The sound of thirty sets of hooves grew louder as they thundered right at us.  We had no where to go.  My mind slowed and reviewed what was about to happen...I have a baby giant horse, a herd of 30 horses charging at us and the only options are to jump or swim.  But, before I could figure out which plan was worse, Autumn arched her body around me, tucked me into her with her head and she anchored her strong draft horse legs into the ground.  The horses sped by us in a bay, sorrel, palomino and painted blur.  They splashed through the pond, balanced on the edge and jumped off of the drop off, all the while, crashing into Autumn, rocking her body as she kept me safely tucked into her.  When it was all over my heart was pounding so hard it made my whole body shake.  I looked into Autumn's eyes...she saved my life.  She protected me.  She kept her head on her shoulders when most adult horses would have kicked me in the ass as they high tailed it out of there.  So yeah, I love my horse.  I love her a lot.  And...I love my husband for standing there with me as I gush over her and he doesn't leave me.
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