When I Am Old...

                


When I am Old…
I shall wear diamonds
And a wide brimmed straw hat
With silver and leather on it
and I shall spend my social security
On white wine and carrots
And sit in the alley of my barn
And listen to my horses breathe.
I will sneak out
in the middle of a summer’s night
And ride the chestnut mare
Across the moonstruck meadow.
If my old bones will allow.
When people come to call I will smile and nod
As I walk them past the gardens to the barn
And show, instead, the beauty growing there
In stalls fresh-lined with straw.
I will shovel and sweat and
Wear hay in my hair as if it were a jewel.
And I will be an embarrassment to all
Who look down on me.
They’ve not yet found the peace in being free
To love a horse as a friend,
A friend who waits at midnight hour
With nuzzle and nicker and patient eyes
For the kind of woman I will be
When I am Old.
– Author Unknown

             
                             
Some of my best friends are horses. For most of my life, this has been so. Horses have been my faithful companions, my trusting confidantes, my loyal friends.  But years pass, and Time takes its toll.  Many of my old friends are gone now-- to greener pastures on the Other Side.  I miss them still; 
but their memories warm my heart and make me smile--and will comfort me when I grow old...

                                                      
I remember Angelique... carefully holding her head still so a butterfly could sit on her ear...arching her neck and prancing around, playing "charge the wheelbarrow" with Siobhan...floating bark boats in her water bucket on rainy days...dragging a Christmas tree in front of her stall door with her teeth, then eating half the candy canes off of it during the night...loving Siobhan like her own foal, contentedly standing over her while Siobhan "slept" in Angelique's hay...

                   

And who could forget Struttin'... my 4-legged son, mischievous imp, the apple of his mother's eye...biting me 10 times a day his whole first year...groaning and laying down the first time Siobhan put a saddle on his back...being a perfect angel in the show ring long enough to win Siobhan a trophy and a ribbon--and then biting her on the bum as they made their way out of the ring...bucking...and bucking...and bucking...standing with me beneath the apple tree, with apple juice dripping off both our chins...

 

              

And sweet Destiny, who truly was an angel on earth... his time here was far too short; but each day we shared, the sun shone a little brighter...

                   

                      

I remember Fiona...Taking her in  "free to a good home" because she was so sweet... then finding a full-page photo of her in an old Arab Horse World, and realizing she once was famous...Fiona, squealing at Angelique The Queen, and then coming in with hoof prints on her rump..   

         

 And Miss Mae, named for Mae West because of her hip-swaying walk...sleeping for hours in the sun, letting the barn cat sit on her back...

                             

And Firefly, Siobhan's handsome boy....untying my shoes...putting both feet in the bucket when I tried to soak his foot...begging the vet for kisses...
                                                 
      
                                           
And sweet Dolce, my handsome Marsh Tacky...bright-eyed and nickering, every single time I walked in the barn (even if it was 100 times a day!)...giving kisses...being "Siobhan's Valentine"....taking the little ponies' lunch money(!) when they came in his pasture...
                                                
      
                                                        
 And my beautiful Bella...whinnying and running to me each evening...running into a fence post when she was flirting with a trail horse...viciously beating up a gelding 7 days in a row, then on the 8th day saying "breed me"--and out of fear, he did...
                             
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So many horses, so many memories...Some sweet, some funny, some sad; but all are dear to my heart... Our horses are a big part of our lives.  As long as I breathe, I will have horses.  As long as I walk, I shall push a wheelbarrow.  And when I can no longer walk, I will roll my wheelchair out to the pasture fence to watch the horses, and remember...