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Show 91 over and sat on her. She didn't buck at all, just looked ffiowi once, curiously, and then went trotting off like she had somewhere to go and was started. I rode her next, she so rounded that I couldn't feel the bone at all, a warm pillow. Even Davy rode her, with Dad alongside. It wasn't clear to me whether we were breaking her in, or whether she was initiating us. into a*- some exclusive club. She remained coy about bridling, maybe proud, axfce maybe enjoying the wrestling, and Dad had to take her down each time for a month before she gave in to oats and coaxing. I coaxed and coaxed and by the middle of the summer even I could bridle her, she snapping at me only now and then to keep me from taking her for granted. She was sturdily built but with clean beautiufl lines, a barrel trim for a Shetland, legs tapering down to slim cannon bones and dainty pasterns, pretty as a girl's ankles. Shiny, neat, well-shaped hooves. Had she been full size she'd probably have been an expensive piece; as it was she had no practical use and she ate regardless. All she was was beautiful, with a velvet muzzle and a silky smooth coat and life packed into every pound. And I_ loved her best of all. When I brought friends out from town I told them she was mine but I never fooled myself into believing I actually possessed her, no more than I Aiawe&SMUwc view of Mt. Sneffles or of Biscane Bay or of Lake Michigan, or possessed Tom Jones or Rodin's sculpted lovers, they in their chaste kiss, prelude to a sensual explosion. Beauty taught me love without possession. She was always her own self, always fiercely independent. She let me bridle her and ride her, I could stroke her neck and whisper sweet nothings, but she set limits. If I went too fast she shied away; if I went too far she let me have it. And no amount of bribes or blandishments could compromise her touchiness about her flanks and hindquarters. That pack of kids had pelted her with rocks and poked her with sticks and she defended herself wholly. I could |