Happy Valentine's Day...Baldy

From Jim: Do you remember when you first realized that you loved horses? That moment when it was clear that these big ole critters were going to be a part of your life? I was lucky in this regard, as I was around horses from the time I was very young. They "just" were a part of my life. Riding was often simply a matter of getting on some horse out in the pasture and letting them continue their day with you aboard. Hand full of mane, foot on an elbow, or better yet a fence rail, up and over, Tack? not so much. Sometimes an adult would pull you on up with them and away you'd go-to do a chore or just take a ride. I remember when it was OK to actually go off on your own. The freedom to be gone from the enclosures and explore what was "out there". My first horse-one that was really mine-was Baldy. He had a Ball face, a blaze that went out past his eyes and over his nose, was probably 37 hands(really about 15)-or so it seemed- and was old enough to vote. He was a plain old grade ranch horse. Now days, he would have been called a school horse. Back then, he was a kid's horse. Safe and gentle and less than enthusiastic about racing around and being silly. There have been many others since Baldy, but he was the first. I still, after sixty years, think of him. I remember the smell of him and the tack when, early in the morning, we would get ready to go for a ride. I remember laying in the grass while he grazed a little mid-morning. Headstall hung on the saddle horn and quietly quietly grinding sweet grass with teeth that had to be worn to gum. He was a sorrel. I've always been partial to them. Good old Baldy! What a boy! Happy Valentine's Day!