Cast of Characters

The Accidental Horseman

**The Accidental Horseman and The Chestnut Mare**

The Accidental Horseman never had any intention of ever being on a horse. He was a city boy and only child. He loves to read and is a serious student of history. After all these years he is still astounded to find himself on horseback and to be living on a farm. When asked if he has cable TV he says, “Cable! We're lucky to have electricity.”

The Accidental Horseman’s wife and the True Horsewoman

**The Chestnut Mare and my Wife at a Show**

She has never lost her childhood love of horses. The faster her mount goes the wider she grins. The accidental horseman is usually riding in her wake, choking dust or dodging clods of earth. In the accidental horseman’s mind she is the true horsewoman. It was the accidental horseman’s wife who took the riding lesion in Germany were the instructor kept increasing the height of the jumps waiting to see if she would refuse and who insisted that the accidental horseman get back on the horse after being bucked off.

The Chestnut Mare

**The Chestnut Mare**

She was a beautiful, Maryland-bred, chestnut, Thoroughbred mare that was the first horse the accidental horseman’s wife acquired a few years after their marriage and the subject of many of these stories. She was high-spirited, intelligent and could always be counted on to win or place at horse shows. The accidental horseman learned to ride on her. At first the Chestnut Mare held the accidental horseman in contempt as an obvious novice rider but in time they became the best of friends. It was the Chestnut Mare who could never calm down on the hunt field and finally committed the sin of kicking a hound and also who bucked the accidental horseman off. In her retirement she would always be counted on for a full bodied nicker at feeding time. She lived to be just shy of 38 and is buried on the accidental horseman’s farm.

My Horse

**My Horse**

**My Horse protesting Trailer Loading**

The accidental horseman often rides a large gray Thoroughbred gelding. We raised him from a weanling and he is now nearing retirement. He is very attached to the accidental horseman and becomes a little jealous if not paid attention to. He suffered an accident while being loaded on a horse trailer and for many years refused to load despite the best efforts of the accidental horseman’s wife and a hired trainer. In time a fellow horseman who we met while riding offered to train him and did so in an extremely humane and effective way in a relatively short time. He now loads without a hitch. He takes his duties as the male in the herd very seriously and would run and bring back the aging Chestnut Mare if she failed to hear the call at feeding time. The accidental horseman was riding the gray when the bank of the stream gave away and the accidental horseman's wife was riding him when she fell and suffered the concussion. It was the gray who stole the accidental horseman's cordless drill.

The Quirky Girl

**The Quirky Girl**

The Quirky Girl was an affectionate bay Thoroughbred mare that accidental horseman’s wife rode after the Chestnut Mare was retired. She could always be counted on but had a number of quirky habits . She was a former race horse and broodmare. It was the Quirky Girl and My Horse who spotted the hunter in camo and the Quirky Girl who turned onto a trail unknown to her or her rider that proved to be a short cut back to the horse trailer. She died tragically one weekend of an illness that the veterinarian covering the group was unable to characterize.

The Petite Bay

The Petite Bay is a pretty, finely built, bay, Thoroughbred mare that accidental horseman’s wife began riding after the Quirky Girl died. She was a former race horse but is nearly bombproof as a trail horse. She has a passion for peppermint.

The New Guy

My Wife on the New Guy (left) and The Accidental Horseman on the The New Guy and his Wife on the The Petite Bay (right)
(Group Photo by Karen Kandra Wenzel)

The accidental horseman just started to ride a second horse that is being groomed as My Horse’s replacement when he is retired. He is a tall, medium-colored chestnut Thoroughbred gelding that has a lot of personality. Accidental horseman’s wife has grown instantly attached to him. We have not had him long enough to have a lot of stories about him.

The Accidental Horseman.
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