On Sunday I was walking Khaleel; there's a street down which we go that has three cul-de-sac streets off of it, and we walk up and down each one.

As we were turning into the second we met Ethan whom I'd peg at about four years old. He was playing in front of the corner house across the street.

"Can you bring your horse over to my house?" Ethan asked.

"We're going down to the end of the street, then we'll come back and stop in front of your house so you can meet him," I told Ethan.

"You can put him in the back yard!"

 

to be four again

 

hehehe ahhhh (sighs) There is a kid that is gonna grow up to love horses ^__^

 

Yes indeed - - - who doesn't?

 

sorry missing the meaning or flow to the story, who is khaleel, who is the horse, and is the funny point supposed to be the fact that the kid didnt hear u and said to put it in his backyard????
confused

 

Do you live outside of the suburbs or what, magician? Just wondering where you're allowed to walk a horse on the streets like that (or don't have to worry about all kinds of traffic or whatever)....

 

blacks2k: Khaleel is the horse. The kid thought that magician was going to allow him to have the horse (to keep, perhaps?) and keep it at his home (in his back yard). Magician actually was only meaning to come back and let him pet the horse or whatever.

 

Just for a bit of a laugh, here is a picture of my step sister (she's 3) meeting a real horse face to face for the first time (as far as I know). She (the horse) just whinnied really loudly right in her face and it rather startled her.



It was too funny, but also a bit sad since she was so interested in the horse originally.

 

blacks2k: Khaleel's a 13-year-old Kellogg Arabian gelding; Ethan obviously wants a horse and believes: a) than I will give Khaleel to him, and b) that one can easily keep a horse in one's back yard.

Jon: I live in Yorba Linda, in suburban Orange County, CA. Yorba Linda has lots of horse property, but recent building of new (non-equestrian) homes has cut off most of the access to the local trails. Khaleel and Valentine (my wife's 21-year-old Polish Arabian) live at a barn in Orange Park Acres, the equestrian arm of the city of Orange, CA, about 10 miles from us. OPA has quite a mixture of equestrian and non-equestrian homes; it also has quite a mix of incorporated (city) and unincorporated (county) areas. The neighborhood through which I've been walking Khaleel has about 10% - 15% homes with stables, and the remainder are typical suburban homes that haven't the room nor the access for stables. It's an odd mix, to say the least. But Orange city planners realized long ago that there are lots of horse enthusiasts around, and they make for a good tax base.

Jon: What breed of horse is the mare in your picture? She appears to have some Percheron in her ancestry, but is maybe a Thoroughbred cross?

 

The story with Ethan continues:

When we stopped to chat I learned that his name is Ethan, that his best friend is named Lucas, and that his (Ethan's) father is named Mark. I learned quite a few facts about Paul Bunyan and Babe; Paul Bunyan did not own a horse. Ethan continued:

"I had a dream about your horse. He got loose, and I had to catch him. I got into my big car," he pointed to the garage, "in there and chased him. I caught his rope and brought him back."

Then came the most unexpected--and most perfectly four-year-old--question:

"Do you remember that?"

I told Ethan that it happened a long time ago and that my memory isn't so good any more. Ethan's father was sitting in the background laughing appreciatively.