We Will Fly Away Up High...Where the Cold Winds Blow

Have you ever been in that situation that you really want something...

But don't have the place to keep it...

Don't have the money to take care of it...

It's a pretty, overall impossible dream...

but you don't care.

That's how it is with me and a horse called Royal.

He's not my horse.  He's my friend's.  I always told myself never to get attached to a horse that isn't mine, but...my heart didn't listen to my brain, and I fell in love with this guy.

It wasn't a right-away connection.  The first time I rode him, he threw me off.  I don't really blame him though.  He was in a new place, new surroundings, a new person was riding him.  I think he was just a little ticked off.

So I just kinda gave him some distance.

Then one day, I went to the pasture where he and another horse were.  I was gonna grab the other gelding, but Royal just came up to me, nudging my hand as if saying 'Hi! Wanna ride?'

'Do you wanna ride, buddy?' I asked him, rubbing his forehead.  

I could almost hear him say 'yes'.

 So we rode.  And he listened to me beautifully.

 

And we rode again.  And again.

But he's gone for now.  My friend couldn't afford him at the moment, so she's leasing him to a lady up in Vancouver (about an hour's drive away).  Of course, my friend loves Royal too. :)  She was sad that she had to part with him for a while.  (Notice how I didn't used the word 'give him up'?)  We both love him...and I feel like I let myself get attached to a horse that wasn't mine...even after I told myself not to.

 

'Maybe loving a horse was like [losing a loved one] because they are big and because you expect them to live long.  

Maybe because having a horse meant your life had been touched by a beautiful mystery.'

{Chosen By a Horse, by Susan Richards}