James has always admired horses and thought that riding one
would be a good experience for him, so he was all for it when he was given the
opportunity to do so by some friends.
He and his friends were at a relative’s house when the
relative invited them to ride his horse a lap around the field. They were happy to do so. His friend rode a lap around the field first
and second friend rode next without incident.
Finally, James had his chance. He
was a little apprehensive but the horse had seemed so calm with his friends
that he decided to go for it. The horse
seemed willing enough to take him on a little jaunt when suddenly, about half
way across the field the horse came up with some ideas of his own. It seems that the horse felt that things that
are more interesting lay beyond the field so he went looking to see what they
were. He must have been in a hurry to
see them because he started out in a rapid trot. Meanwhile, James was bouncing around as if
his behind had sprouted springs and he was sitting on a rubber ball. The horse evidently took all of that activity
as a sign that James was in a hurry too, and so proceeded to quicken his
pace. James tried to call for help at
this point, which the horse evidently mistook for encouragement and broke into
a gallop. He must have figured that
James was in such a hurry so in order to please him, ran across the highway
without even slowing down. That might
have been a stroke of luck however, since the tractor-trailer that was making
its way down the road more than likely could not have slowed down if he had
wanted to.
Abruptly, the horse evidently realized that it was
dinnertime, and tonight was the night he had apples for desert, so he decided
to turn around and go back home. He must
have been worried that there might not be enough dessert to go around because
he broke out for home in a dead run.
James does not remember crossing the road the second time as he thinks
he might have momentarily blacked out.
Since James had lost his voice moments earlier and was possibly in a
outright faint, the horse forgot all about James and decided to climb a very
steep hill which provided a nice short cut back to the barn. James regained consciousness just in time to
find that he was rolling head over heels off the animal’s back. He actually landed on his posterior, sitting
in an upright position. The horse made
it back to the barn in time for supper, completely unaware of his contribution
to the evening’s entertainment. James
still admires horses; now he just admires them at a distance.
Again, the universe reminds us to stay balanced.
