Monday, I went to Sturbirge Village. It was fun. I saw 3 horses. Sister Allen is nice. She sent a neckalce home with mom yesterday. It is a horse. Yesterday, I saw my first harness horse race. It was nice. We went to the Brooklyn fair and saw the race and had lunch then saw exibiths and I saw one of the biggest and smallest horses I have ever seen. Till next week.
For a girl who did not like to go outside or get dirty or sweaty, it is highly ironic that I was horse-crazy as a pre-teen. Before there were other media influences, pre-teen girls sometimes got severely affected by the "horse fever." On long car trips, rather than look at license plates, I would scour the landscapes for horses. Before I had bookshelves of science fiction, I had bookshelves of horse books, plus equine-related paraphernalia. I was influenced by horse authors like Walter Farley (Black Stallion) and Marguerite Henry (Misty of Chincoteaque). I begged my parents and Santa for Breyer Horses. (I even took riding lessons for one ill-fated session in a later summer, which actually cured me. If the folks had known that, they may have sprung for riding lessons sooner!)
As you can see, my trip to Sturbridge and to another local summer fair was all about the horses. I don't know what happened to the necklace, but I still have a few vestiges of the horse collection on my bookshelf, in literary, and in plastic mold form. In the process of removing boxes of my old life from the parental homestead, I found the box of the Breyer Horses that I wouldn't previously part with. I finally culled it down to three that had the most meaning to me, Black Beauty, Misty and her foal Stormy. Some of the vintage Marguerite Henry books are still in my personal collection. I even found some delicate bone china horses that are now part of my shadow box of precious items from my past, like my "silver" baby spoons, and precious amethysts.
It is thanks to Ms. Henry though, I still would love to visit Assateaque and Chincoteaque Islands one day. Not necessarily for Pony Penning Days or the annual Pony Swim, but one day during the off-season so I 
can explore and indulge my inner pre-teen. As I explained to someone after Derby Day this year, you may be able to take the girl off the horse, but you may not always get all the "horse" out of the girl.
The equine-loving gene is still in the family. Both of my sisters-in-law have ranching/farming connections and grew up around horses. It's so wonderful to see the kids up on the backs of these animals and looking pretty comfortable. Here's Christina and Amber off for a ride. Drew has been up on a mount too, but looks a little anxious about it here.
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