SHADOW - The Little Filly

Shadow came into my life in an imperceptible way. After a trip out west during the summer, I visited the Arnold family for the Thanksgiving holiday in November 1998. Danny somewhat had “taken a liking” to me after that trip, and the tiny spark of a new romance was forming. I remember Anna Elise having the chicken pox and I being a nervous wreck that I would contract them, since I have yet to have the much-dreaded virus. I also remember that Danny kissed me for the first time in the barn at his parent’s house, just prior to watching old home videos and holding hands on the couch. The whole family was there, including Cindi, who had her beau, Jonathan, there; they married the next summer. I remember that Thursday being sunny and warm, everyone able to wear short sleeve t-shirts comfortably.

Danny had been boarding Sunday, his dear horse and friend of twelve years, and her little Filly foal in the pasture at his parents’ house. Before we had the Thanksgiving meal, Danny saddled Sunday for a few brief rides for those who had interest. I of course did not pass up the opportunity.

Sunday is a dark brown Quarter horse who accidentally was bred by a paint stud horse. Her genes must be omnipotent, for her offspring was the exact replica of herself. As we each took our turn on Sunday, the little one followed patiently in her mother’s footsteps; she insisted on being by her mother’s side at all times. Danny mentioned that he had not been able to come up with an appropriate name for the foal. He slyly said, “She might be a good little horse for Rhonda someday”. I remember thinking how far-fetched that idea sounded!
As we were riding, I exclaimed how the Filly was like Sunday’s shadow, and Danny decided that sounded like a fitting name, deciding to call her just that. Many of his friends nicknamed her Saturday, but it was understood that her real name was Shadow.