My Friend

My dear friend Georgie sent me pictures of beautiful mysterious wild horses. Georgie lives in a remote area of Oregon. In fact I always feel like she has her own forest and her own mountain. Georgie's world is a beautiful world. Anyway, back to my story...rather Georgie's story.

Georgie told me that she'd always heard stories of the wild horses. She'd even heard their whinnies in the distance when the night was at its darkest. But she'd never seen the wild ones. That changed when an unexpected snowstorm hit Georgie's mountain. The snow blanketed the ground as Georgie hiked up, down, and around her forest hills. She knew they were there. She smelled their glorious scent nearby. Like me, Georgie loves horses. Now the wild ones in her woods became her passion.

The snow began to melt. Georgie was out for her usual walk when she heard pawing on the ground. She was caught off guard. The horses startled Georgie and she startled them. They spooked and ran off. But they came back again.

First there was one horse.

And then there were two.

Before they settled down to eat the horses made sure that Georgie kept her distance. They continued to paw at the ground. They snorted with their nostrils flared. The big black Appaloosa shook his head up and down. He

seemed to be trying to get a better look at Georgie. She was patient. Georgie snapped a couple pictures from the distance then she started making little clucking noises.

Georgie's wild ones began to be intrigued by her sounds. She sat and watched. She watched and waited. After Georgie had several meetings with the horses they began to get use to her coming to visit them.

Trust is an amazing thing. So is patience. The photograph above is of the mare that Georgie named Feather. "Her eyes are feathery soft and she has long fluffy eyelashes," Georgie told me.

Georgie went on to tell me that the black Appaloosa is so shy he always keeps his distance. She calls him Snowflake because he looks like he's covered with fresh fallen snow.

"The mare, Feather, is the most brave," Georgie said.

Georgie knows what Winston Churchill knew long ago. "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a person."

Georgie's hand on Feather's face
is gentle and kind. To me, it's more beautiful than the most exquisite piece of art.

Not to get all poetic on you or anything, but I can't help myself.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "About the pace of nature: her secret is that she's patient."

Georgie is like a gentle breeze or the spring sunshine. And sometimes she's like rain on a cloudy day. The most beautiful thing about Georgie is that she's always there...just like nature.