A Horse Ride With Mara

A few years back my granddaughter Mara and I decided we ought to go on a horse ride. She was four years old at the time. So, we threw a saddle on Rocinante (Ross) and went over to a flat open field where I figured all would go well; we should never take anything for granted. I should explain before going further, when the grandkids are one and two years old, they can ride on the front of the saddle where my arms are on either side of them, and all is good, but when they get to be about four, that saddle gets to be a bit crowded. Mara for the first time was riding behind me, behind the saddle.

We started out and after traveling almost ten feet Mara asked, “Grandpa, can we run”. I was a being a bit cautious due to our unfamiliar seating arrangement and so I responded that we ought to wait until she has a little more experience, she responded “ok Grandpa, ok”. Will we saunter along a bit further, and Mara said brightly “Grandpa, can we run now?” At this point I had to really think quick, after all we had covered about fifty feet of ground since her last request, so she obviously had more experience than the first time she’d queried. So, I asked, “Mara how old are you”? “Four” was her answer, “Oh, I think we better wait until you’re five”, ok Grandpa, ok, I patted myself on the back for cleverness and speed in coming up with what I thought was an insurmountable roadblock. We reached the end of the field and started buck down the other side. A couple additional requests for enhanced speed had been made which I deftly deflected. The horse was smooth and easy, all was going well.

Up ahead a wire was sticking up out of the ground so I asked Ross to sidestep around it so we might avoid any unpleasantness, being a good friend, he complied. But in doing so a tree branch touched his back side and he skitter down the field maybe thirty to forty feet. After getting him stopped I reached around behind me to make sure my riding partner was squared up good,

It took a second or two for my mind to wrap around this new situation but Mara was no longer sitting there. So, I turned around in the saddle and looked back up the fields where Mara was just picking herself up out of the dirt, I hollered, Mara, are you OK? She said I’m okay. So, I hopped down to the ground and hustled back to Mara, dropped to one knee, Mara, are you hurt? She said, “Grandpa, some parts of me hurt worse than others. Lifting her up onto the saddle, I led Ross back to our home.

A few days later, Mara was back out to the house. She informed me that if she had already earned her Fairy Wings, she would not have fallen.

Might we bless all children with wings.