Wednesday, June 29, 2011

A horse with no rider ...


You've heard of the headless horseman, right? Here's a similar story with a bit of a twist ...

A few years back a friend was cleaning out an attic in a repossessed house and spotted a real treasure. Handmade, it was a rocking horse with a soft wool mane and tail, leather saddle and sturdy platform for rowdy little riders.

I don't know if some lil' cowpoke got mad at his mount or what -- but that poor horsie had been beheaded, so to speak. That's how he came to us, but thankfully the head was found in a corner of that same attic. All it needed was some sympathetic soul to come along and reattach it... and I knew just the man.

When our two year old grandson found out we had a headless rocking horse, he described it this way -- "Papaw, Nana. Horse -- head broke." At two, that's was the problem plain and simple, so my hubby made a promise to Ethan.

It took a bit of time, a bit of wood glue, some screws and sweat, but there was lots of love in the mix, too. The result was marvelous, as you can see in the photo above.

It's important to keep promises, and Papaw knew this one was especially important. When a two year old boy is worried about a horse without a head, you can't laze around or back down on your promise. A man's gotta do what he's gotta do, and I'm proud to say my man did.

When he called Ethan to report, he said, "Remember the horse with a broken head? Papaw fixed him, and he has his head back. He's ready for you to ride."

I'm sure our grandson was relieved to hear that. I'm also guessing his eyes lit up when he said, "Ride horse!"

And that's just what a horse with no rider needs ... a little cowpoke (make that two of them!) that are to arrive for a family reunion in July. I can picture them taking turns to rein in a perfectly good mount. One their Papaw rescued.

We don't know who it was that built such a beautiful horse, but we're thankful for their fine craftsmanship. We don't know how many children have ridden him through the years. We don't even know the name of this rocking horse.

But that's okay. We figure our grandsons will come up with a name for him after riding him a few times. I'm just glad this horse will once again have some young riders perched on that fine leather saddle.

P.S. This Nana will be happy to post more photos when that happens!

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