A story not of what was to be, but what wasn’t.
The actual year this event took place has long been lost to the flowing sands of time, but the memory remains quite vivid. This took place when our family was still living on Road 12 ½ near Lovell Lake.
The day was a perfect day, warm and sunny with not a cloud in sight anywhere. Sheep Mountain graced the background with red and tan hues, the majestic Bighorn Mountains looking on behind. It was summer vacation, so school was not in session, the pure freedom of childhood belonged to us to enjoy fully.
Feeling somewhat bored, my brother and I took it upon ourselves to find some adventure to fill the time. Although, in hindsight, I now believe there were two co-conspirators that manipulated the entire events that were to take place that day. Said controllers of our fate being Princess and Dolly.
As someone from Wyoming, it may seem peculiar, but I had never ridden a horse before. The day seemed the perfect day to change that little tidbit, to become a fully-fledged cowboy as all Wyomingites should be.
Our friends and neighbors across the lake, the Nicholls, owned what were supposed to be two mild-mannered members of the equine family, suitable for the pure beginners that we were to dip our toes in the world of wranglers and outlaws of the wild west.
Princess may have been a quarter horse, or possibly even a half horse, but seemed to me a completely full horse. Dolly on the other hand, was a short little thing, seemingly cute and friendly, a Shetland pony. That word “pony” just sounds harmless, nice, docile. Do not let appearances or names deceive you.
We received a quick tutorial on gearing up the horses. We carefully placed the bridles, threw on saddle blankets, capped off with the actual saddles snugged into place below with the straps. We double-checked everything and decided we were ready to go.
I was confident in my ability to handle this new challenge laid before me. As I placed my left foot into the stirrup and grasped the saddle horn preparing to swing my right leg up and over the seemingly valiant steed that was to be my mount for what was sure to be the start of many similar journeys I glanced at Dolly’s eyes; Dolly glanced back. Master to servant, controller to controlee. I mistakenly thought myself the former. There was something in that glance. I should have recognized it, processed it quicker and turned away to find other activities. I didn’t.
I thoroughly enjoyed the first minute of that ride as we started down the gravel road. With the warm rays of the sun shining on us, my brother and Princess leading, we started at a slow walk which quickly became a full fast-paced gallop. The wind rushing by blowing my glowing copper hair into a greater mess than was normal, excitement filled me from head to toe. This was it, the moment I had been dreaming about all my life. I was well and truly on my way to being a cowboy, a hero, a legend.
Everything was perfect, until it wasn’t. The devious plan of the two co-conspirators was now in action.
One moment I was straight up on the back of the pony, then something felt slightly wrong. I couldn’t tell what it was at first, then moments later the feeling of wrongness increased. I was no longer sitting straight up on the back of the horse, but rather was slowly angling further to the right. I attempted to pull myself and the saddle back to the left to no avail as the two horses continued to run down the road, each trying to get ahead of the other. I continued to slip further to the right. I attempted pull back on the reins trying to get Dolly to stop. She wanted none of that. All she wanted was to get ahead of my brother and Princess.
Suddenly and completely out of my control, the entire saddle with me in it slid to where I was no longer on the back of the horse but was now hanging beneath her. My legs were wrapped around the belly of the horse pointing straight up toward the sky. I no longer held the reins as I was holding on tightly to the edges of the saddle. I thought surely the horse would stop now with my ungainly mass holding on beneath her. Instead, Dolly seemed only to increase in speed at this point. I could see her front feet flashing at a rapid pace to both sides of my head. Small rocks were kicked up hitting the top of my head and a cloud of dust from the country road filled my eyes and nose.
The only thing I could do at this point, frightening as it was, was to release the iron grip my hands had on the saddle and my legs had around the horse’s belly. As I did this, I tucked myself into a ball trying to avoid getting stepped on by the mighty hooves flashing on all sides of me. I skidded and tumbled in the dirt and rocks eventually coming to a stop.
Breathing deeply, I laid there sprawled out in the middle of the road trying to make sense of what just happened. I did a quick check to see the damage that may have occurred, my back and head were scraped, signs of bleeding were minor, and no hoof marks were evident anywhere on my person. The only real damage was to my pride and my dreams of being the next Jesse James, Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy or the Sundance kid.
I glanced nearby and noticed that as soon as I dropped from the saddle, then and only then did Dolly decide to stop. We shared a look together which communicated much. We both knew then, Dolly was the master, the one in control, and I wasn’t ever going to be a rodeo star riding under the big lights, winning shiny buckles around the country and breaking cowgirls’ hearts.
A story not of what was to be, but what wasn’t
這不是一個關於將要發生的事情的故事，而是關於不會發生的事情的故事
這一事件發生的實際年份早已消失在時間的流沙中，但記憶仍然很生動。 這發生在我們家還住在洛佛爾湖附近的12 ½ 公路上的時候。
那一天是完美的一天，溫暖而陽光明媚，天空中見不到任何雲彩。綿羊山以紅色和棕色爲背景增光添彩，雄偉的大角山在後面看著。當時是暑假，所以學校沒有上課，童年的純粹自由屬於我們，可以充分享受。
我和我弟弟感到有些無聊，決定主動找一些冒險打發時間。雖然，事後看來，我現在相信有兩個同謀操縱了當天將要發生的所有事。我們命運的控制著是 “Princess” 和 “Dolly”.
作爲來自懷俄明州的人，可能感覺很奇怪，但我這一天前從未騎過馬。這一天似乎是改變這個小花絮的完美日子，像所有懷俄明州的人一樣成爲一名成熟的牛仔。
我們在湖對岸的朋友和鄰居，尼科爾斯家庭，擁有應該是馬科里的兩匹溫文爾雅的馬，適合純粹的初學者讓我們涉足狂野西部的牧馬人和亡命之徒的世界。Princess可能是一匹四分之一的馬（英語quarter horse是一種原爲四分之一英里比賽培育的馬），甚至可能是半匹馬，但在我看來，這是一匹完全完整的馬。Dolly相對來説是一匹很小的設德蘭小馬，看似可愛友好。只要看“小馬”這個詞聽起來無害，漂亮，溫順。不要讓外表或名字欺騙你。
我們收到了一個關於裝備馬匹的快速教程。我們小心翼翼地放置了繮繩和鞍韉然後確定帶子緊貼在下面。我們仔細檢查了一遍，決定準備好出發。
我對擺在我面前的這個新挑戰充滿信心。當我把左脚放在馬鐙上，抓住了馬鞍角，準備將右腿向上擺動，超過那匹看似英勇的將長期與我陪伴的駿馬時，我瞥了一眼Dolly的眼睛。Dolly回頭看了看了一眼。主人對僕人。控制者對被控制者。我錯誤地認爲自己是前者。那一眼裏有一種感受。我應該認出它，更快地處理它，然後轉身去尋找其他的活動。但，我沒有。
當我們開始沿著碎石路行駛時，我非常享受那次騎行的第一分鐘。有溫暖的陽光照耀著我們，我弟弟和Princess帶路，我們徒漫步開始，很快就變成了超快節奏的疾馳。風吹來，把我發光的銅色頭髮吹得比平時更亂，從頭到脚充滿了興奮。這就是我一生都在夢想的那一刻。我正走在成爲牛仔，英雄，傳奇的路上。
一切都很完美，直到它不是。兩個同謀的狡猾計劃現在正在實施。
一會兒我直接趴在小馬背上，然後感覺有點不對勁。起初我分不清那是什麽，過了一會兒，不對勁的感覺增加了。我不再筆直地坐在馬背上，而是慢慢地向右傾斜。我試圖把自己和馬鞍拉回左邊，但無濟於事，因爲兩匹馬繼續在路上奔跑，每匹馬試圖領先於另一匹馬。我繼續向右滑。我試圖拉回繮繩讓Dolly停下來。她一點都沒有反應。她只想要跑到我弟弟和Princess的前面。
突然我完全失控了，整個馬鞍都滑到了我不再騎在馬背上，而是掛在她身下。我的雙腿纏繞在馬的肚子上，直直地指向天空。我不再握住繮繩，因爲我緊緊抓住馬鞍的邊緣。我以爲因爲有我掉在她身下Dolly肯定會停下來。相反，Dolly在這一點上似乎只是加快了速度。我可以看見她的前脚在我頭的兩側快速閃過。小石頭被踢起來，砸在我頭頂上，鄉間小路上的一團塵土填滿了我的眼睛和鼻子。
在這一點上，我唯一能做的，儘管這很可怕，就是鬆開握在馬鞍上和包在馬肚子的手和腿。當我這樣做是，我把自己的手和腿貼近身體，盡量避免被我四面八方閃爍的强大蹄子踩到。我在泥土和岩石中打滑和翻滾，終於停了下來。
深吸一口氣，我躺在路中間，試圖清楚剛剛發生的事情。我做了一個快速檢查，看看可能發生的損害，我的背部和頭部被刮傷，出血的跡象很小還有我身上任何地方都沒有明顯的蹄印。唯一真正的傷害是我的自尊心和成爲下一個傑西詹姆斯，比利小子，布奇卡西迪，或聖丹斯小子的夢想。
我瞥了一眼附近，注意到一從馬鞍掉下來，Dolly才決定停下來。我們一起看了一眼溝通了很多。那時我們都知道Dolly才是主人，是控制者，而且我永遠不會成爲在大燈下騎馬的牛仔競技明星，在全國各地贏得閃亮的皮帶扣和讓女牛仔心碎。