The Woman from Snowy River
Back after the Man from Snowy River came out, I daydreamed about riding along a sawtooth ridge in a pasture about 2 miles from the boarding barn, the nearest I could get to the movie scenery, and doing it at a gallop accompanied by the main title music. Came the day, of course, that I found the soundtrack at a time when I simultaneously had the few bucks required. I bought it, borrowed a friend’s walkman, and waited for appropriate weather to most nearly resemble the good days in the movie (not the storm scene, we aren’t recreating that, thank you).
So the perfect day came when my schedule and weather obliged, and I drove out to the barn to saddle up my unlikely partner in romantic film fantasy, Bam Bam the half-Arab, half-lunatic gelding. I told the BO we were going on a trail ride but didn’t state my intentions, feeling a bit silly saying it out loud. To the big ridge we went. Bam had warmed up nicely and was feeling pretty obliging for him.
Here I discovered a problem as I hit the starting point of my scene recreation. It required a hand free to hit the start button on the walkman, with tape already cued up, and Bam, of course, picked that moment when I only had one hand on the reins to throw in one of his patented spook-rear-spins. I stayed on, but I resembled more a monkey than Jim Craig in doing it. All of this, of course, was done to glorious musical accompaniment.
Stop. Regain stirrups. Call Bam a few endearments. Rewind the tape. Cue up the tape again. Ready? Go. This time, Bam took three canter strides and spotted A ROCK :eek:
Stop. Regather reins. Call Bam a few more endearments. Try to explain the wonderfulness of the Man from Snowy River to him and how honored he should be to be my partner in this cinematic recreation. Rewind the tape. Cue up the tape again. Ready?
And the third time, whether because of my lecture or just because of his whirlwind moods, Bam was wonderful. We galloped along the whole length of that ridge, clouds overhead, wind in my face, incredible music accompanying, and even his hoofbeats were in time with the theme. Nobody on earth watching right then. Just the two of us living a crazy dream I had had.
The main title ended. I stopped Bam, gave him a grateful pat, and really called him a few endearments. And then I walked him all the way home, satisfied. That will probably be as close as I ever get to the movies, but I’ll never forget it. The most perfect gallop of my life.
