“How much and where do I sign?” That’s the response I get from most dads of little girls when I give them my best pitch: Get a girls mind on horses and it’ll keep her mind off boys for an extra three to five years. Soon after, a new horse will arrive at the farm with a little girl sitting atop its back, where she will remain until time to head off to college.
Riley said to me, “I finally have my own horse and her name is Molly.”
“I know Sweetheart and I’m so happy for you,” I said as Riley’s dad handed me a board check. He, of coarse, is thinking about how much it cost to keep a horse as I’m thinking he can’t have a clue about what he’s done for his daughter.
She’ll show up at the barn everyday now. She’ll pick Molly’s hooves and untangle her mane. She’ll give her a bath once a week and brush her daily and then kiss her on the nose.
There’s something about little girls and old women who love to kiss a horse on the nose. Or maybe they just love the smell of a good horse, I can’t be sure. But I am sure of this: every horse deserves to be loved by a little girl and every little girl needs a horse.
Riley won’t experience this kind of emotion again until years from now, when some half-boy/half-man shows up at the farm, willing to get sweaty and dusty with her as she teaches him about the love of a good horse–and, most importantly, the proper way to kiss a horse on the nose.