Loneliness and Contentment

This horse and pond and farm existed right down the street from LMFP (where I learned how to hang glide).  One day, one of the instructors there  mentioned the ‘horse who was probably really lonely’.

That evening, I rode my bicycle around the area.  Let me just start out with saying that those foothills around Lookout Mountain are NO LAUGHING MATTER when it comes to this Midwestern, level ground loving, speed racer wannabe on a bicycle.  It was less than 3 miles one way, and I thought I might pass out on the way.

Along the way though I was rewarded with some amazingly beautiful areas.  I certainly had lots of time to take them in as my average speed was less than 8 miles per hour (far from my normal of 16 here in Chicago).  I encountered lots of foliage overhanging softly sloping and curving roads with rustic looking homes interspersed throughout the whole trip. Of course not all of the journey was fantastic.    I almost got eaten by a dog who chased me.  That’s never happened to me before, I guess I’ve always been lucky even on my journeys outside of Chicago up in Wisconsin or out in Arizona.  I’ve heard about it from other riders, but was completely unprepared for this wolf to come chasing me out of the yard I wished it had been fenced up in. I think my average went up to at least 12 for that half mile.  Adrenaline and fear of being eaten alive do amazing things in the body.

It was a relief to reach this farm and field on the way back, it gave me the perfect opportunity to stop and catch my breath.

Then I noticed the horse in this field, munching the grass alone.  It didn’t seem to be uncared for in any other way, but I suspected that there must be some loneliness in that horse brain.  The scene brought on a melancholy to my heart that I couldn’t seem to shake.

Interestingly enough, after I saw this horse this day, I couldn’t not see it as I went past the field ever again.