Memory Mondays

I always enjoy telling stories, however, I always worry when I begin to forget those memories that were so vivid, so potent, and so incredible.

So I am trying to create "Memory Mondays"where I post a memory.  Fun ones, sad ones, and those that I just like to share.

Hope you enjoy.  Let me know what you think and share some of your own.

(Back story:  I volunteered/worked over the years at a summer camp where horses are run/lead in and out of large grazing pastures in the evening when the work was done)

Running the Herd

I was still young.  I remember being a little apprehensive about running the herd, so this must have been after my first fall.  Not just first fall while galloping a horse bareback in a large thunderous group, but first fall ever.  Don't worry self, there would be more to come. 

I remember sitting and looking across the corral to decide who were were riding.  Some of the other people must have taken pity on me.  I remember the hour was going later and it was getting dark.  While we were checking gates earlier, the sun had begun to set.  I remember sitting atop a horse on a tall hill and looking all around at the world's most beautiful panoramic picture.  Just an incredible sunset full of vivid colors that were just surreal.

I selected my mount.  He was a little Arabian gelding: chestnut with white feet.  Comfortable, small enough for me to get on bare, and very smooth.  An ideal horse to take the herd out in because he was so utterly dependable.  So Louie, it was.

As we opened the gate of the corral, dusk had fallen.  The pasture was close-by that we needed to get to, but still we had to push, or the horses would never leave the home corral.  So off we went.  I was in the middle in a perfect introductory-to-running-in-a-big-herd kind of way.  We galloped smoothly across the home field, up the hill, across the camp road, and up the main path.

I remember it getting dark enough that I could barely see Louie's ears.  I asked him quietly to keep me safe.  He kept on, smoothly and steadily.

As I looked around, grasping to see anything in the darkness, I saw an incredible display.  Sparks flew from where horseshoes hit the gravel on the path.  I could see little glimmers through the darkness lighting a path to our destination.

And then we arrived, safe and sound a few moments later. 

Louie had kept his promise and had given me a short, sweet, yet long lasting ride.  Thank you old man for letting me see that in the darkness, there will be light.