I decided to focus on some horse sense in this column because the Washington State Horse Expo is taking place at the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds. Today is the last day for this “mane” event, so gallop — don’t amble — on over to the fairgrounds if you want to find out why Clark County is most definitely not a “one-horse county.”
Hearing about the horse expo prompted me to do two things: recall a childhood memory, and browse the library’s shelves for books about horses. First, the memory. Once upon a time, when I was just a little girl, no more than 3 or 4 years old, I got to sit on a horse. That might not sound like much, but coming from a decidedly nonhorse family, it was a big deal. I have to admit that I don’t have a clear memory of this experience, just a fuzzy image of my dad talking to a nice man who offered to let me “ride” with him on his horse. What I do remember is that the horse was GIGANTIC.
Now for the books. I’m not sure why I waited so long to become better informed about horses, seeing as how influential they’ve been (ha), but over the years I have learned that the quest for knowledge evolves with time. Reading about Black Beauty and Seabiscuit satisfied my equine curiosity at certain stages in my life; now, I’m ready to take a different tack — raise my horse IQ by learning something about horse breeds.
Because I’m starting from, well, the starting gate, I decided to keep my gait at a slow, even pace by checking out an introductory guide to horse breeds. It’s not a horse race, after all! This week’s book turned out to be a perfect choice for me because it’s informative without being ponderous. Easy-to-understand chapters are broken down “into groups according to temperament, build, size and function.” I expected a simple alphabetical listing of breeds, but sorting them into categories helped this novice rein in a team of information.
