The location of a proposed personal and RV storage project off Airport Road, the third storage project heard by the Planning Commission in as many months.
The accompanying picture popped up on my Facebook feed the other day. It’s from 2012 when our daughter Patrice was a high school freshman. She’s hugging Zip, a Paint gelding that we bought for her to high school rodeo on. Zip is still legitimately infamous in Oregon/Idaho and Nevada high school rodeo circles for his solid work with young riders in the arena and his ridiculously poor ground manners. He’s a fine boy once a rider gets aboard, and a talented horse; but he’s just about even-money to step on you or knock you down if you’re around him on the ground. His poor ground manners are legendary and some really fine horsemen and trainers have tried to break him of his bad habits to absolutely no avail. Knowing this, we gave up and generally gave Zip the space he desired. I missed that memo one Mother’s Day weekend when we were rodeoing north of Stead. I was carrying my weenie dog, a camera with a long lens, as well as hotdogs for Fred and Patrice when apparently Zip didn’t care for my proximity to him. He spun sideways knocking me down into a mud puddle and my weenie dog and camera almost into the next zip code. Alas, other than getting wet and filthy and losing the hot dogs, no real harm done. He also liked to steal Cokes from Fred. If Fred was careless enough to set a Coke on the fender of the trailer near where we tied Zip, that cheeky horse would consistently knock it over and slurp it up. He had no shame.
He carried Patrice through high school and part of college and he’s now pretty well retired here on the ranch. He still makes occasional appearances as a parade or queening horse if a politician or sweet little girl needs his services. He’s fatter today than I’ve ever seen him and comes on the trot if he sees Patrice or I nearby, sans a lead rope of course. He knows that means treat time and he is always first in line as long as we don’t intend to capture him for work.
The picture of Patrice and Zip mostly made me smile because I know the heart of that little girl hugging her horse’s neck. Our Patrice has rarely if ever met a horse that she couldn’t fall in love with. She’s almost 27, and sometimes when I look out my kitchen window toward the tack room on the far side of our creek, I like to watch her put her horses away after a day of work. Nothing fills me up like seeing that little girl again in a grown up body. She still talks out loud to her horses (constantly) and she still neck hugs them.
I read somewhere that young girls who have dads and horses in their lives are more likely to choose and maintain the best adult relationships with men. I think I believe that. My kid definitely had a wonderful, protective and fully involved dad. And, she’s had a consistent series of horses to ride and love. Her relationships with them continue to develop and evolve as she now breeds and trains for herself and others.
Some people say that horsemen and women maybe have one or two “heart horses” over a lifetime. I think that may be true for some, but that little girl hugging her horse in the picture seems to find a way to love and and lose herself in all of them, and that’s a really special thing.
Kris Stewart is a rancher in Paradise Valley, Nevada.