American Bedu

Abdullah has loved horses all of his life and naturally he is partial to the Arabian stallion.  One afternoon when we were in the Washington, DC area we took a drive through the Virginia countryside.  Virginia is also known for its horse farms.  As we were driving on a country road with gated fields, we saw several horses.  I was driving since I was more familiar with the area and it allowed Abdullah the opportunity to enjoy the drive and look around.  He animatedly asked me to “Quick, stop the car, please.”  There was no traffic around us so I easily pulled to the side of the road.

Without saying a word, Abdullah proceeded to exit the car and walk up to the gate.  I joined him and he then turned to me asking “Are these real horses?”  The horses in the field were all brown and white colored.  This breed of horse is known as the American Paint Horse.  I asked Abdullah hadn’t he seen horses like this before in some of the old John Wayne movies or other Westerns as he was a big fan of western movies.  He told me that he had seen them on tv but had always assumed the colors were painted on to the horse.  He did not know there was an actual breed with the dual coloring.

It was a very special and touching moment when one of the horses, curious of us, sauntered over to the gate where we were standing.  Abdullah was able to pet and run his hands over the side of the horse’s body.  He expressed his amazement at how the one color would just blend over to the other.

One of our dreams was that when we retired we had hoped to have a small farm in Saudi Arabia where I could have as many cats as I wanted and he could have his American Paint Horse and a greyhound dog.