Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Daydreamer

I sit in a desk and daydream about wild horses and rank broncs. I dream about green grass waving in the wind, a horse's mane tangled and curly, and a snort from a colt whistling in frosty air. I can hear stirrup leathers flapping while a young filly has her morning fit. I can see chattering teeth smiling despite the bizzardy wind, sheer joy in a man's face, completely content a-horseback. A melancholy feeling surrounds me and my heart aches. And my hands just want my horse's mane through my fingers. Cowboy's voices laugh and shout in my mind and a chilly breeze runs down my spine when I remember the branding season. Dancing ponies and bucking calves trot through my mind, cowboys I'm thinking about along with cowboy horses, gentle and stout. Dreaming, ever dreaming about the cowboy life I want to live. Forever. On the open range. Or in the mountain brush. My mind cannot escape. I can't escape from the want to be surrounded by horses and cattle, cowboys and cowboy-girls, bunkhouses and barns, ranch lands and mountains, rivers and cool canyon creeks. . . but I'm here. In a desk. In a building. In a city. Until the day when I can run free again...

I appreciate school, but I prefer horses :)


~Gussie




Saturday, August 4, 2012

A Hot Cup of Coffee and a Lazy Streak

Evening sun settled just below the mountains leaving and orange glow lighting my view.
I sat on the back porch watching a yellow horse mill around in the arena.
Intrigued I walked out and sat next to the water barrel next to him and we sipped our beverages together.
I sat there from an interesting point of view. Watched his throat move and felt his breath on my face.
I tipped my coffee back and drank my cup dry and set it in the dirt.
I sat thinking about how much I love the feeling of a horse beneath me.
Then the urge to ride pushed me too my feet, but not quite far enough to get a halter.
So with a hand rested on his whither and one on his back I jumped and flopped like a fish until I had a leg on each side, a head in front, a rump in back and not so much as a halter on a refined little head.
And I drove him out.
We walked around and it felt so free yet so sophisticated.
I moved him close to the rail then turned into the middle.
I asked for a trot and played with the mane that wrapped around my fingers.
Then "whoa." and I felt his feet sink and asked him to back. And he did.
Turned him around and trotted again.
It felt so good to be able to control his whole body with no saddle, no bridle. Only trust.
Sitting on his back I watched his ears listening intently and felt him trying to understand each thing my legs and body asked him for.

Who knew that a hot cup of coffee and a lazy streak would lead to one of the best feelings in the world. You didn't know your heart could smile.

 Gussie