Yesterday, I was running errands in Templeton and Paso Robles, CA.
Templeton is a small town, but the main drag is fairly busy. Paso Robles is a small town but way larger than Templeton and has many, many busy streets.
I saw a horse being ridden on the side of the road not once, but TWICE within an hour of each other, in both towns!
FIRST SIGHTING.
I was in Templeton, getting A2 milk (another story). As I was driving South, I saw appoximately 6 cars veering around something coming North. The closer I came, I began to see…a… horse and rider?! Huh?
I mean, Templeton is a cowtown… but the main drag is busy. I certainly wouldn’t ride a horse around the main drag, unless I had to.
So, I made a Uey and parked in front of where I was going, then waited for the rider to catch up to me.
She was a very well dressed Western rider with a very nice rig. The horse was young and frothy – clearly jigging and excited to be where he was. The most interesting part… the rider was holding a Starbucks coffee. As the horse was jigging and being a young horse on a busy road, she was holding that coffee as if it was on a gyroscope. Totally perfectly.
The rider had a great seat.
I raised my voice so she could hear me and I told her that she was very brave.
She told me that she was training this youngster and this was good for him. He is part mustang and part quarter horse. She was deciding whether to sell him or keep him. “He likes to keep moving”.
And then she rode off, coffee in hand.
I had parked and the traffic had subsided. She was very well dressed, had a beautiful rig… and was holding a Starbucks coffee as this young horse jigged about.
She was training him, “this is good for him” as I told her she was very brave. The traffic was still clear as they headed off, coffee still perfectly balanced in her very steady hand. I didn’t ask her name. I have no idea who she was.
SECOND SIGHTING.
I was coming home from buying my milk… really only about 20 minutes later, and I saw this guy on a horse on the shoulder of a one lane, very busy East bound road.
????
Two people on horseback on main roads in one day? I had to pull over and wait for him to catch up to me.
So, I did.
He was a guy with another fine rig on a beautiful quarter horse. They looked like a pair just taking a walk down a road…
I asked him why he was riding up Union Road on a horse?
He said that it was his only mode of transportation. He is a horse trainer who fell and broke his back, came upon hard times and his horse is his only vehicle right now.
I asked where he slept and where the horse ate… he told me that he slept in fields under the stars on Union Rd and that his horse ate the grasses there.
Hmmmm.
I asked if he had friends and if he eats well… he said it was his choice to leave his living situation and he will get another place soon. He has lots of friends in the area…
Did he need a job, I asked? He told me that he couldn’t work for various reasons, but that he could do odd jobs.
The horse looked good, so I didn’t question anything. We all have our stories.
He was very nice so I mentioned that he must really trust this horse to ride on a busy street like this… and told me that he had owned this horse since he was a baby. He knew this horse very, very well and trusted him.
I thought that if anyone spent this much time with any of my horses (kinda like I did with Mama Tess) as he and his horse did, they’d have that same trust when riding.
Here they are, emerging from the trees, on the shoulder of a busy road. I was parked in a driveway, waiting for them.
He seemed to know that I was waiting for him, so he came in to join me.
The horse was healthy, feet trimmed and he looked like he was bonded with his owner and totally fine. The guy had on a very nice, new jacket and good shoes and worn chaps. He may not have had a car, but he took care of himself and his horse.
SUCH AN INTERESTING DAY…
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