The First Ride

This is one of our first few rides!

The days grew shorter on the ranch as fall drew near, bringing with it Autumn's 3rd birthday.  The once overflowing heart-shaped pond had dried up into a lumpy looking potato.  As summer passed Autumn and I watched the purple forest clover stop itself in the shadows of the redwoods, as a carpet of sunshiny buttercups spread itself across the meadows, which eventually fell underneath waving oceans of daises. Prickly purple thistles pushed their way through August and were lost in the Queen Anne's Lace of early fall that tried it's hardest to dress up the dry and dusty landscape.  The cool autumn breezes rattled the skeletons of the headless thistles in the song of the coming winter rains. In lace patterned sunlight, I would walk with Autumn under the trees daydreaming about someday riding her in the forest we now walked.
Then one night I just sort of walked into my dream...
It was around 8pm when I found myself driving home (before I lived on the ranch) one night after a long day of taking a class and running errands.  I wasn't planning on stopping at the ranch but as I was passing the exit I thought "what the hell?".  I pulled up to the barn, grabbed a pocket knife and skirted down the dark, little path that led to the pasture, hoping that there weren't any mountain lions ready to pounce and rip the paranoia right out of me.  It was foggy but the meadow glowed under the white light of the moon, three days shy of being full. 
I whispered for Autumn, not wanting to disturb the stillness of the night.  My plan was not to go into the woods to find her if she wasn't in the meadow.  I wandered around starting to give up hope as I drew near to the forest's edge. But then...I faintly saw the blaze on Autumn's face floating towards me silently as if the moonlight was drawing her out of the darkness to me.  Her eyes held more light than the moon and the excitement of being with my horse spread over me.  She stood next to me on the hillside while the little girl inside me, who had watched the "Black Stallion" probably more times than is healthy, grabbed a handful of mane and attempted to swing a leg over her back.  Well...that night I discovered that I was no John Wayne when it came to swinging up on to a horse...  I ended up giving the poor girl a good kick in the side.  Despite my unintentional abuse, Autumn stood there with the forgiving patience of a saint.  I decided to spare her another beating, gave her a hug and we headed for the gate.  
We were half way across the meadow when Autumn stopped next to a slight embankment on the hillside.  She lined herself right below me in perfect sliding-a-leg-over-her-back position...and that's what I did!  I got on my baby horse Autumn!  There we were in the middle of a dream.  I almost pinched myself but when Autumn turned and touched each of my dangling feet, I knew that it wasn't a dream.   On her own she decided to take us for a walk and I held on to her mane the way a child holds onto their mother's skirt for security. 
After a little ways, she stopped walking to check out my legs again and even bit my shoe.  I sat there then and I sit here now and I can still feel her big warm body beneath me.  I leaned down, hugged her big giant neck and rested my face in the waves of her moon lit mane.   All around us in the glow of the fog, I rode my best friend Autumn in the clouds of a real life dream.  She walked us to the pasture gate, where I gave her one last hug and stole every second on her to keep forever in my memories.  I slid off of her reluctantly, not wanting that first ride to ever end.  When my feet touched the ground I bounced around like like a teeny bopper at a Justin Bieber concert. With Autumn at my side we headed up the hill to the barn together, the two of us sparkling from our adventure in the clouds.

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