Blog 353 – 07.25.2016
Episode 25
(Excerpt from the book, Emily – The Little Girl Who Sang Her Song To Anyone Who Came Along)

Like many of you the first thrilling ride I remember was a horse. Oh, no, I did not grow up on a ranch or farm with cattle and horses as some of you cowboys and cowgirls did but I was and am a cowboy none the less. Like all true cowboys I love horses as did my Emily.

I rode my first horse at about the same age she rode her first horse and they were the same. Grant you mine only cost a dime a ride and hers a quarter. But then that is pretty cheap when you consider how much it would cost these days to board and feed a real horse. I can still remember begging my folks for another dime for another ride on the mechanical horse of my childhood. In the Kroger near our apartment when Emily started out her brief ride here was a mechanical horse called Sandy. She loved that horse at first sight and I always kept a pocketful of quarters so Emily could ride to her heart’s content. Isn’t that a wonderful expression. I try to make it my mission when parents run out of quarters before their child gets enough of the ride or the video game to be there to offer another go. How quickly we forget that child within that needs just another ride, one more story, another glass of water even if it be fraught with the possibility of a accident over night. That, dear parent, is a small price for a contented, satisfied heart.

Emily’s moments on horse back and my own are some of the most precious memories I possess. The look on her face in a snapshot I took of Em on her beloved Horsey Sandy reminds me that it was one of the best quarters I ever spent and the return on that investment far more than anything the stock market or casino can match on their best day.

The America culture with its romantic stories of the wide open spaces of our west and so many horse backed heroes and heroines has made horse lovers of most of us. I bought a white horseshoe with a blue background as a trailer hitch slot cover for my new pickup truck not because I am an Indianapolis Colts fan but because I love horses. I cheer for the Denver Broncos not just because I am a fan of Payton Manning but because I love horses. One of my favorite pictures is of a herd of wild mustangs in Wyoming.

When I worked in Wyoming for five months a couple of years ago. I saw wild mustangs almost everyday. I thought of them as my own horses. I once thought I wanted to own a ranch with horses and I may yet but even if I do I will not love them more than my mustangs, Emily’s Horsey Sandy or her older brother the one that I rode as a young cowboy. “Hi ho, Silver, and away,” to all you horse lovers out there.

Your friend and fellow traveler, Emily’s Dad,
Alias, Cowboy Dave,
David White