Horseback Riding: The trial

It’s ridiculous, I know, but an incident that happened when I was young continues to keep me from climbing onto a horse’s back. I love horses. I love watching them – from a distance. I love their natural grace and beauty, their soulful eyes and flowing manes. I love watching them gallop or munching on tender grass.

When I was little my father taught me how to feed a horse an apple. There was a neighbor who would turn his horses loose in the field next to ours. (We lived in rural Newfoundland and kept chickens and a cow, but never once did we own a horse.) Anyway, I digress. The horses were beautiful but I was nervous because they seemed so big to me – I was just a bit of a child at the time. But I remember the delight I took in feeding one an apple. Sadly…