The Old Woman and her Horse

The horse prohibition on the sign at Orange Grove Park reminds me of the time my wife and I went walking at Arroyo Seco Woodland and Wildlife Park. We saw this sweet, older woman with gray hair pulled back into a pony tail bun [Editor's Note: My wife corrected me.] walking a horse through the park. She said something about the elderberries growing there and how she used to make elderberry pie--nothing in the world was more delicioius. I would assume that she was walking her horse from San Pascual Stables. I like to imagine what would have happened if she had kept on walking her horse up onto Pasadena Ave. and onto Arroyo Dr. I can see her taking a right onto Mission where she would wave at all the people in the parking lot at Trader Joe's and then continue galloping down Mission until she respectfully stopped at the light at Orange Grove. She would guide the horse up onto the the sidewalk and steer her steed through the gate into the park. She would ride around the softball diamond, with her fist raised high, in sheer defiance of the sign. Then, after she had had her fun, she would turn around and go back the way she came. Maybe she would decide that instead of going back to the stables, she would travel southward along the arroyo. The sun would set as she made her way through Los Angeles, navigating the concrete corridors until she found herself on the beach in Santa Monica. She would ride out into the waves never to be seen again.