History: How it really started

[This is an installment in "How we got into horses". See right sidebar for other posts.]

Every summer, my husband's partner Roddy has hosted a horseback-riding party at his place. Roddy and his wife would saddle up their ten or so horses and people with riding abilities from none (like us initially) to a lot would ride in their arena. I watched my children with pounding heart, but the horses they rode were old, dependable ones. Nobody got injured; the worst thing that happened to me was a horse got fed up with me yanking at the reins it reared up and dumped me on my bum. We rode with running shoes and no helmets; I cared more about how my wind-blown hair would look after the party than my staying safe on a horse.

It would be years later, when the bug would bite, but it had begun to burrow into our skin.