So, my mom purchased Flashy Bit O' Luck, and he was trailered back to the place we kept our previous horse (who passed away from Colic). The place we boarded at cost $100.00 per month and was nothing more than a medium sized pasture (1.5 acres) and a walk in shed that was rarely cleaned. I'm being honest here, and sometimes think back and cringe a little. The fencing was the kind that is metal squares (I don't know what it's specifically called) and there was barbed wire along the top to prevent the horses from - well, I don't really know - but barbed wire? YAK! Anyway, the people who owned the property kept their older Appaloosa mare, Bridget there as well. We'll call the property owner and her husband Brenda and Matt. Brenda had a back injury and couldn't ride the mare anyway, so she gave my mom and I full permission to ride Bridget any time we chose, it was really perfect in the sense that there were two of us and two horses on which to ride. So, Flash, being the wild one that he was in the beginning, took a little work to get accustomed to the "trail" riding we did alongside a paved and somewhat busy road. He fussed for some time, but after a few weeks, my mom had him "kid safe" and Flash became my riding partner in crime for years to come. Some of the stories I'm going to tell that involve Flash and myself are at times very cringe worthy. I never ever wore a helmet ~ Flash's feet would be somewhat long and chipped at times ~ we had barbed wire fences -ACK! BUT the horse was healthy, sound, fed and very much loved, so these things will have to be forgiven I suppose.
So, with Flash and Bridget, my mom and I would go on some very long and very memorable trail rides. Most of them were not exciting, but more so just very nice. We'd stroll along at our own pace, down tree shaded dirt roads, through "State land" trails where my mom spent her own childhood riding borrowed or sometimes her own horses. My mom would reminisce about those rides that were, in my adolescent mind, so long ago. Sometimes when the road or trail flattened out, we'd canter and I'd lean forward and feel the cool summer breeze created by the rhythmic three beat canter my fiery colored Flash provided with his speedy gait. Other times we'd just walk for miles and I'd sing to the drum beat of Flash's walk - if the song called for it, we'd trot to speed up the tempo ;). Those were the days that my love for horses escalated into something more than just a young girl fascinated with the Equine animal. Horses were in my mom's blood and she had passed something special and even at times troubling onto her daughter. God help her!
To be cont....
So, with Flash and Bridget, my mom and I would go on some very long and very memorable trail rides. Most of them were not exciting, but more so just very nice. We'd stroll along at our own pace, down tree shaded dirt roads, through "State land" trails where my mom spent her own childhood riding borrowed or sometimes her own horses. My mom would reminisce about those rides that were, in my adolescent mind, so long ago. Sometimes when the road or trail flattened out, we'd canter and I'd lean forward and feel the cool summer breeze created by the rhythmic three beat canter my fiery colored Flash provided with his speedy gait. Other times we'd just walk for miles and I'd sing to the drum beat of Flash's walk - if the song called for it, we'd trot to speed up the tempo ;). Those were the days that my love for horses escalated into something more than just a young girl fascinated with the Equine animal. Horses were in my mom's blood and she had passed something special and even at times troubling onto her daughter. God help her!
To be cont....
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