HORSES| CHILDHOOD| MEMORIES
My Favorite Horses To Ride Move to a Different Beat
They are far more predictable than the horses you’d think of
I have only been on a live horse for a few minutes in my entire life. It was one time at an event where they had handlers for the horses and the kids all got to ride the horse. It was at a large tourist park across from my hometown zoo. It was a fun experience and I always regret not learning how to ride a horse.
Instead, I got a thrill out of riding horses attached to poles. That’s right. Merry-go-rounds. They were at theme parks, the State Fair, and many other carnival-oriented events whenever my family wanted to take us. We didn’t go a ton but those were the only times I got to ride a horse.
When I was younger, I got to ride the smaller and easier carousels but as I got older, I went to even faster and larger rides. At one point, they built a huge carousel in the mall near my house. I loved riding that thing despite having to pay mall prices to get on it.
I found many opportunities growing up to ride fake plastic horses to simulate the freedom I felt thinking about riding a real horse while spinning in circles. I imagine that riding a live horse without help would be much different and a freer feeling. I think that it would’ve been beneficial for me to learn how to do it.
I’m an adult now and I wish I’d had the opportunity. I’m already too in my head about anything scary like that these days. I have limited mobility after all. Because of that, I don’t think I’ll ride a horse or learn how to in my lifetime. I’ll continue to ride the fake horses whenever I get the opportunity to. They’re much safer than the real thing and there’s a lower chance for me to get hurt or seriously injured on a plastic one.
Using my imagination and closing my eyes on a merry-go-round gives me the opportunity to feel that lost opportunity, if even for a few minutes. I will give my brain the ride of a lifetime one day and try to ride for longer just so I can experience not having to move by myself and just letting the ride take over and carry me away. Riding these things as an adult would certainly take me back to my childhood when I mostly got to enjoy this activity.
I want to go back to feeling the cool breeze or even the cool air conditioning on my face from the mall carousel. I will leave you all with a song that captures the spirit of how thinking about riding the carousel feels to me.
