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As far back as I can remember, I've had a love of horses. In fact, the first word I learned to print was not my name but "horse". All through my childhood I begged my parents for a horse. They bought me a bouncy horse which I've written about previously. Here is a picture of me on that horse.
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It wasn't a real horse though and that's what I wanted. When I saved up enough money from my allowance, I used to buy American Horseman or American Quarter Horse magazines. I used to dream about horses all the time and I drew pictures of them and wrote stories about them too. There was a riding stable not too far from our house, just off Michigan Ave. on John Hix Rd. in what I believe is now Westland. My dad used to take me and a girlfriend there to ride every couple weeks or so in the summer months. When I was older, 14-15 years old, I begged and begged my parents to let me take riding lessons. They finally caved in and let me take a few lessons out in Belleville where my friend Joanie was taking lessons. I was so excited! I don't think I took more than 6-8 lessons because I had to pay for them out of my own money and my allowance didn't cover the cost. I took all my lessons bareback and I just loved the experience.
When I was older still, in my 20s, I used to ride at stables up in Oakland County. Bald Mountain was the name of one stable. I can't think of the name of the other but it was in the same area. My girlfriends, boyfriends, and a few of my cousins used to ride with me there. No trail riding either. We paid our money and just took off for an hour of pleasure.
I haven't ridden as an adult except for the occasional trail ride when I was on vacation (like at the Kentucky Horse Park). Because of potential liability issues, there aren't any riding stables around here that allow unsupervised riding anymore.
In February of 1983 I had the chance to visit a magical place that I'd read about as a child in the book, Misty of Chincoteague
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I've loved horses all my life and from time to time I fantasize about getting one when I retire. It probably won't ever happen but I still enjoy the idea of having a horse of my very own.