Growing up in Brooklyn, NY I never had the opportunity to even be close to a horse, other than seeing the occasional mounted police officer. But as a young new 2nd Lieutenant assigned to El Paso, TX in 1966 I ventured out a rental stable north of the city to see what it was like to ride a horse. I taught myself how to ride, coming back frequently to ride the same horse, which turned out to be the favorite of the owner, an old woman, who stopped charging me and just thanked me for exercising the big guy weekly. I loved riding out into the desert north of El Paso toward New Mexico on my own, just the horse and me, returning a few hours later to water and brush down the Colonel (the name of that horse). After leaving that assignment I never got to do much horse riding to this day, but remember that experience very fondly. In a way, my love of motorcycling began when I realized that moving down the road with the power under me reminded me very much of that feeling of being on a horse out in the desert with all of that strength and power under me and under my control (mostly). I still have a special fondness for horses.
