The Black Stallion

The Black Stallion by Walter Farley is one of the best books ever written. I should know. I read it, on average, three times per month during the 5th grade. The movie? Classic. Wonderfully told and filmed. Beautiful horse scenes.

However, the BEST horse scene EVER in the HISTORY of horse scenes definitely belongs, hands down, to The Man From Snowy River. You know the one. Where he rides down the side of the mountain… Yeah. You’re nodding your head right now. The thing about this scene is that it’s real. My brothers, dad, and I have analyzed and re-analyzed this scene so many times that it’s pathetic. This was made in the days before amazing CGI and animation. The camera isn’t tilted to make it APPEAR that he is going down a steep slope. He and his horse really ARE! Dude – those trees are growing straight up and he is going past them at a 45* angle, at least. Some in my family would venture a guess at closer to a 60* angle since he’s almost laying flat on his horse’s rump. Any idea how bloody hard this is? Not to mention scary! I literally grew up on a horse, and I’ve ridden some awesome mountains; I wouldn’t walk down that mountain mounted, let alone take it at a full-out run. I don’t know if I would walk down that mountain on my own two feet while leading my horse! Anyway, back to the point…

Along with reading this book, and others in the series, almost non-stop, I also had a Hell’s Kitchen Endurance Ride t-shirt that I wore at least once per week. It had a beautiful picture of an Arabian on the front of it. I loved that shirt. White with navy blue around the collar and sleeves. Loved it.

My 5th grade teacher, Mr. Hermansen, told me that I was going to turn into a horse. Ah, if only! (Funny story about Mr. Hermansen: He only taught in Mt. Pleasant for a couple of years. I was lucky enough to have him the first year. That’s when I found out that he was living in the same house that my mom was born in. Like, actually born. You know – not in a hospital. In the kitchen of this house that my teacher now occupied. Small town history…)

The only thing that I did more than read about horses was ride them. Gosh! I miss having a horse of my own. I never thought I would get to this age and not have five or six of them. A girl can still wish….

Wait. I just realized that I never did get to a point. A book, a movie, a shirt, my teacher, my mom, and a wish. Easily distracted today….