PAPER HORSES

The year I was 12, Me and two cousins had a time of make-believe horses. My cousin Avis was the one with the great imagination. to me, She was so magical. We didn't have figurine or toy horses. There weren't any made at that time. Except for a few plastic ones. This was way before Breyer went into business. We were adults by then. Whenever, I saw the Breyers, we would have been crazy for those. So, what we did, was find pictures of horses, copy and color them. We each had at least twenty horses each. We even badgered Audrey's older sister, who could really draw. draw a few horses for us. She was out of high school and working. So, we were quite greatful to her. Oh, she's the one who drew the heads for our stick horses.

Anyway, Avis, Audrey and I had a lovely year, playing horses. If the weather was bad, with paper horses we could play in the house. if the weather was good, sometimes we would set up ranches on a small rise near Audrey's house. or we would play with our stick horses. When a horse wore out, we would beg and scrounge cardboard to make the heads from. I think I even badgered my Dad to ask Mr. Bethel the big store owner in town, to see if he had any boxes he was going to throw away. He did. He thought it was cute about the horses. I only asked once. I had gotten a big box. enough for several heads. We kept my Dad busy cutting sticks for us.

The time lasted only a few months. But as I said. It was a memorable time. I think it meant more to me than the the other two though. I still have my paper horses, I wish I had someone to pass them to. My cousins, when they had children passed them on. The toys are long gone.

Here is a page of a few of my horses. I may end up making a memory book about them and glue the toys in with a story about that time.

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