Ooh. Tell us a story about that, please.

Not much to tell, sadly. He was living with his mom, which was why I never met his dad. We hung together some in 8th and 9th grade, about...

...20 years ago. Fuck, I'm old. Anyway, we played D&D occasionally, but we kinda drifted apart after 9th grade. My mom told me he died of some kind of heart thing last year. Hadn't seen him in years. Kinda sad, actually. Hadn't realized it was time to start checking the obits to see which friends had started to drop. Hmph.

John Bellairs died of a heart thing in the 90s. Damn. Sounds like it ran in the family.

I stopped at Walgreen's on my way home from work and noticed a book called Riding Lessons in the paperback rack.

Read the blurb: it's about a woman who stopped riding after a horrendous accident after which her horse was destroyed. This is her extremely unique red and white striped horse.

I had to buy it so I could find out how they justified the red and white stripes.

I mean, stripes I can buy (the horse could be a red dun) -- but a red dun would have darker red stripes on a red background, not red and white stripes.

Maybe it was related to the albino (stripeless) zebra? You'll have to let us know, sumi.

You know it'll be a good book when the author has a firm grip on zoology, history or other science stuff.

Danielle Steel (I think) wrote a book about a paraplegic who could ride her horse around so that nobody realized the terrible secret of her disability. She didn't get into just how mounting and dismounting occurred. Granted that I don't know much about riding horses, but balance and grip have to be important.

There is a special saddle for parapalegics and perhaps even quadrapalegics. And I believe that there are specially trained horses that use the saddles. Mind you, I think this about the horse. May not be true.

The only thing that normally holds a person on a horse is thigh strength. It's possible to ride without the use of your legs, but it would much harder.

ETA: What Aimee said.

I imagine that transferring from wheelchair to specialized orthopedic saddle is quite a production, particularly if performed without assistance. Maybe if the horse kneels?

I don't think a quad could ride. I understand that the lack of muscle control = no balance = specialized 4-point restraint seat belts needed for safety during car trips.

I bet she could, but I don't think she could pass that way...you know? After time passes, even if you're not born to it, it shows.

Katerina -- that is just so ridiculous!

I'll let you know if she comes up with a good reason as to how this could be.

There is already the disconnect between what the story is about (a former three-day eventer) and what is on the cover (a gaited horse), but that is to be expected.