Grandpa Had The Same Love...

The Leaders 

Grandpa used to tell me that there was nothing better than a man having horses to take care of cause each one will grow into something special with their own personality. I found that same sort of love over the years. Horses have a kind of calming affect on my spirit. I can almost relate to them as they stand strong and communicate through gestures and deep eye contact. In Cali I frequent the equestrian center but there's nothing more special than to see horses out in the country where they can enjoy their freedom.

During my most recent trip to Texas, I found this beautiful piece of land off of highway 259 between Mt. Pleasant and Daingerfield. The land had rolling hills and was surrounded by gorgeous pine trees. I pulled over to take a picture of this very scenic display that mother nature had going for her. I was putting my new digital camera to good use, snapping shots in all directions. I took the first picture, which showed the whole panoramic view and then the second shot was a close up of the wooded area where the pine trees stood so tall. As I was focusing for the third shot, I noticed a few horses appearing almost out of nowhere. They stopped when they'd seen me and just stood there, probably wondering what the heck is this person doing over here. Their curiosity only lasted for a quick moment because they went back to eating grass and didn't really worry about me. I kept walking through the beautiful dark green pasture. I took a couple pictures of the horses grazing. After a while, more of them appeared and that sort of blew my mind to see so many in one place. They all looked very healthy and strong. I couldn't imagine them to be anything less in such a beautiful place.

After I'd taken many pictures of the area and of the horses, I headed back toward the car. I was parked on the side of the road just outside the fence that surrounded what looked like over one hundred acres of land. When I reached the fence, I decided to just lean against it for a minute and watch. I was in no hurry to get anywhere. Once I did that, I noticed two horses approaching me. Funny thing, I thought to myself that these two must be the leaders of the pack because they looked older and they seemed daring enough to check me out up close. The others just kept eating grass and occasionally looking over at me as they chewed.

The two leaders approached with caution. They stood there perhaps waiting to see what I'd do so I took a couple pictures of them. They were beautiful horses. And then eventually the dark brown horse came close enough for me to reach out to him. Once it could sense the calmness of my spirit and the admiration I had for it, that horse showed me much love. It was as if he stood there trying to communicate with me. That horse let me know that he was the elder and the other horses were his family. The horse that stood behind him made me laugh because he would never keep any sort of eye contact with me but would always keep looking from side to side as if he were a nervous bodyguard. It was funny but even he calmed down after a while.

Soon after my little visit with those beautiful horses, my stomach started to growl from watching all of them chow down on some delicious grass. No, I didn't join them for that but I did drive into downtown Mt. Pleasant to pick up some hotlinks, crackers, and some peach cobbler; a special delicacy in east Texas.... Yum... Yum... It was a good day...(smile)