"Horses calm me. I love being around them. They smell great, they are beautiful to look at, they are loving, demanding, temperamental, and they settle you.”
—Shania Twain
Cecile and I made plans to meet our daughter Michelle, her husband Kyle, and our eighteen-month year old, granddaughter Lyla, in the parking lot near Buck’s Restaurant in Woodside that gained fame as a meeting place for venture capitalists and tech entrepreneurs of Silicon Valley. Before they arrived, we put our face masks on and stopped at the home and garden center of Emily Joubert. They were only allowing several people in the store at a time due to new COVID-19 reopening guidelines, so we settled on viewing their offering on the outside until the kids called to let us know they were arriving shortly. Woodside as a whole is known as horse country, which is the reason we were invited to join the kids here in the first place. Recently, Michelle had taken a photo of Kyle holding Lyla in front of two horses who were corralled in front of their owners’ home, and Cecile and I were happy to revisit the same two horses with them. Whenever you ask Lyla what sound does a horse make, she is eager to oblige. She loves to be quizzed and is in that phase of learning the sounds of animals. Many of the properties we passed have barns and fields for keeping horses around their home. Unlike the early California explorers, settlers, ranchers, and loggers, whose horses provided their transportation and horsepower, horses in Woodside today provide recreation and pleasure riding, equestrian sport, and equine-assist therapy. It also provides the rural community character that Woodside is known for around the world. Although I have ridden horses several times in my life, there is something special, peaceful, and calming about just being in their company. In today’s fast-paced, screen-centric, internet-connected world that was given birthright here in Silicon Valley, their contribution is essential.
The two horses seen in the photos I took were more than 50-feet away when we arrived. But a little clicking of the tongue got their attention, and they slowly made their way toward us to sniff our scent and begged to be pet. Most of us took a turn petting these docile, beautiful creatures, and within minutes the gathering together became a mutual admiration event. It was a perfect way to spend an afternoon with family.
