My Fear Of Horses

Before I start diving into some other subjects, I have something a little on the mundane side to talk about which has been on my mind for the last half a year. I've had this fascination with wanting to get over my fear of horses. I haven't trusted them ever since I had a very bad experience on one back in the '60s.
When my parents used to have the big ranch out in the community of Lorane, there was one day when my Dad decided it would be nice to have me on one horse and my Dad would ride on another one and he'd lead my horse on a nice little ride around the countryside. It's too bad that it didn't work out this way. I can chuckle about this now, but I sure didn't that day when it was over with.
My Dad got the horse out that I was to ride on and proceeded to put me on it. Everything seemed to be fine. He figured the horse was just going to stay there and wait. I didn't do anything. I didn't kick it or make any sound to indicate anything to the horse I was on. As my Dad was making his way to go and get his horse to accompany me, my horse decided to bolt on me with me on him. It wouldn't have been too bad if it was just a nice little trot. Instead, the horse took off on a high-speed run which involved me holding on to dear life. I can still remember the feeling of power underneath me. I felt like I was riding atop a thundercloud. To make matters worse, my horse was making a run for a very steeply inclined drop which led to a creekbed. I was pretty certain that my either 8 or 9 year old life was about to end. It appeared to me that he was going to hurl himself into this drop into the creekbed.
All during this terrifying ride I was on, my Dad hauled ass onto the horse he was supposed to have lead the horse I was on. So, eventually my Dad and his horse arrive in high-speed to catch up to my horse. The horse was beginning to run out of room and I guess he saw that the drop was coming. He started to slow down and my Dad was able to reach out and grab the horse I was on and slow him down even more to the point that he got it to stop completely.
Suffice it to say, we didn't go for that nice ride. In fact, my Dad was not very happy with that horse either. It took for him to get his beautiful horse who only trusted him to save the day.
To make matters even more complicated for me was the fact that I would later have a horse of my own later on. I ended up with a Shetland who was called Little Chief. I can't recall if I ever rode Little Chief. All I recall of him was of how moody he was. He was a nipper. I was usually the target of his nipping. I could never understand why Little Chief was so moody. I've been told by a few friends of mine over the years that a Shetland was not a good first horse to have because they have a reoutation for being ornery. I have no idea what would have made a better first horse to me as I'm not very familiar with them. I do know that Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones dearly loves Arabians.
There was my Dad's beautiful horse anmed Button. Button only trusted my Dad as he was previously owned by somebody who was terribly abusive to him. As such, my Dad always used to tell me to admire Button from a distance and never get close to him even when I near a fence and he was on the other side. Button was the horse my Dad used to take to Utah to go Mule deer hunting with in the rugged country there. He really was a magnificent beast.
If we fast-forward to the '90s, we had neighbors next to us on the Lorane Highway property who used to have a pair of horses on it that I used to have to occasionally go over to feed. They were Carrie and Laddie. I was always scared of how big they were and if they would get a little impatient with wanting their food and use their heads to get a little rough with me. If I'm recalling correctly, Carrie was supposed to be the mischief maker who liked to occasionally take advantage of Laddie by raiding his food.
So, as you can see. I have this thing about horses and I have decided that I want to deal with it eventually. I would really like to ride a nice, gentle one with someone who knows what they are doing and has done this kind of thing before.
Also, because of my ecclecticism, I think I'd really dig riding a llama too. Well, the idea appeals to me because of two things. It makes me think of Neil Young's song on Rust Never Sleeps "Ride My Llama" and the fact that Cowboy Junkies fans are referred to as llamas. The irony of all of this, combined with my thing about horses, would not escape me.
So, if any of you people out there knows of somebody who really has experience with horses and truely knows what they are doing, could you let me know about them? I'd really like to start all over again and bond with a really nice horse who won't take advantage of me.
I spent all of those years on the Lorane Highway property having a great time with all of my cow buddies. I think it's about time for me to get over this horse fear thing. I think it would be a really fun thing to ride a horse and a llama. Plus, it would be nice to have this under my belt to talk about with women because I get this impression that women love horses so much. I've been a cow guy for so long that I get wondering if people think I'm weird when I tell them my cow stories and how close I got to so many of them. Though I will explain later at some other point, I am sure happy I don't live on ranch property anymore.
So, there you go. This is one of my weird posts that I thought I'd throw out to you all as a curve ball of sorts. I promise that I'll get back into the swing of writing about other things as time permits. There's so many different things I want to dive into.