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| Not Joyce - a palomino from the internet |
My friend Georgianne posted pictures of her handsome palomino, Eddie, on Facebook, which reminded me that way back in the day, I had a boyfriend who owned horses. I rode his beautiful palomino quarter horse named Joyce. On our first ride on the West Bank of levee of the Mississippi River, Joyce sensed that I was uncertain and began to run up and down the levee...not straight ahead, but up and down the slope of the levee, which is rather steep in the vicinity of Gretna in Jefferson Parish. I panicked, and my boyfriend had to ride to the rescue, just like in the westerns, and take the reins. Picture me on the horse above, running up and down the levee. I learned a good lesson from Joyce that day. Take the reins, and at least act as though you're in charge. Joyce was very well-trained; it was the rider who needed to learn. I never became truly confident on a horse, which, as you know, is a large creature, as I always suspected the horse knew she/he had the upper hand - er - hoof.
My boyfriend rode Joyce in Mardi Gras parades with a group of members of a quarter horse club. On occasion, she'd rear up on her hind legs in the excitement, giving the crowd a splendid display, but with my boyfriend praying that he could hang on, which he always did. Joyce rode in quarter-mile races and participated in barrel races, calf roping, and other cowboy activities. After the boyfriend and I broke up, I missed the Sunday afternoon rides and tried the horses at Audubon Park, but it was not the same, and I stopped riding. Joyce spoiled me for rental horses. When we traveled in the West, we sometimes took trail rides in the mountains, and, in addition to my worries about controlling the horse, there was the added worry that the horse would stumble and fall off the mountain trail.
Remember Trigger, Roy Rogers' horse? Palomino supreme.
