The Horses of Hernando County

I have watched these young horses grow up together the last two years. The first time I saw them they were tiny foals nursing from their mother. I always stop by their horse farm whenever I cycle the Withlacoochee bike trail on my way to Inverness. The horse farm is just a short distance from the trail. These young horses are very friendly, they always come up to the edge of the fence to greet me. I’ve seen them at least 20 times, so maybe they recognize me now too. I am sure they are related to each other. These horses remind me so very much of the two horses I saw in the Wind River Range in Wyoming during the New Mexico to to Canada cycling tour back in 2007. They all share the same white strip on their face. These horses truly are magnificent and beautiful.

A closer view of the two siblings.

Here is a photo of the two similar horses I saw in the Wind River Range in Wyoming during the Continental Divide Tour back in 2007. I took hundreds of photos during that 43 day cycling trip from New Mexico to Canada. I took so many photos of beautiful glacier capped purple mountains, dark green forests and valleys, blue-gray glacier fed rivers, and turquoise lakes. The photo of these two horses is my favorite from the entire tour. I remember passing by them and not stopping since I was struggling against steady 30 mph headwinds. Finishing that day was going to be a real challenge. Somehow I knew I had to turn around to get a photo of these two stunningly beautiful horses. I turned around and returned to the horses. I ended up spending an hour with them. When I returned home from the trip after the 6 week odyssey, I realized that I learned the meaning of life from these two horses. They were huddled together sheltering each other from the fierce winds. Then I knew that the reason we are on this earth is to help each other.