I've been working on my "About Me" page for my new web store, and to complement it, my mom sent me some photos of me, circa 1986, enjoying our family's horses. The palamino filly (which I believe was dubbed "Blondie" while we had her) was the gray mare's foal, sired by a black stallion, believe it or not. (And YES, my pants were always too short. It seemed impossible to keep me in clothes that fit--a problem that I am now dealing with in my own tall, slim children!)

Here is the relevant excerpt from my "About Me" page:

The summer I was nine, my parents acquiesced to my pleas to let me go riding alone. We had an old dapple grey mare named Gal. Stubborn—my father made no secret that he was not overly fond of her—but she was stable, and short enough for a tall nine-year-old girl to get up on by herself. I tried to saddle her a few times, but of course, one of my parents always checked to make sure everything was snug… (Well, except that one time… but no harm done—I just learned how to slide off a horse instead of under the belly with the rig.)

That summer on top of Gal was full of magical memories. I took miles-long, hours-long rides all over the surrounding countryside (most of which was owned by relatives, so I guess my folks weren’t too worried), all by myself. Riding a horse became my first taste of independence, of freedom—and all the magic that had only lived inside my head until then seemed absolutely real. Gal was old, and grey, and kind of pudgy, but in my mind I was atop a brilliant silver unicorn, and we were dancing through woods filled with faery kind.

And when do you get to see the actual page, complete with a functioning store? Soon...

But not yet.