Old Matt....

 I watched a beautiful program on PBS this evening.  "The American Horse" was an hour long program about the horses that are particularly American.  Appaloosas, Morgans, Mustangs and Quarter horses all have their place in American history.  Seeing those horses running across the prairies, mountains and deserts reminded me of Old Matt.  Old Matt was the only horse I ever had.  Actually I only 'had' him for a week.  My roommate during my first two years of teaching and I decided to take a driving trip out west one summer.  We camped in Yellowstone and visited Carlsbad Caverns and the Grand Canyon and finished our journey with a week at a dude ranch in the mountains of Colorado.  It was a great experience which included daily trail rides and some cute cowboys.  When it was discovered that I had never ridden a horse before I was paired up with Old Matt.  I hung on and he walked slowly so it worked out just fine.  We were always the last in line, although he did perk up a little when the barn came into view.  Years later when we lived in a rural area in Ohio our neighbors had two horses and a few times my neighbor girlfriend and I rode the horses up the hill a ways to pick black raspberries and just for the fun of riding.  Thanks to Old Matt I did know how to get on the horse and control him with the reins.  One other fun fact, I got my first ever speeding ticket driving a Mustang.  And that's all the horsey memories I have.