This is Otis. He’s been a part of my horse family for 18 years. At 24 years old, the super-senior gelding, AQHA-registered as Cheers Reflection, proved yesterday that he still has a lot of spunk left in him.

This shouldn’t surprise me, because he’s always been a handful. He served many years as my brother’s calf-roping horse, and then was retired to a life of luxury, playing in the pasture, chasing the dogs, and giving “pony rides” to any of our friends with young kids–and now to my kids.

Sure, he’s sway-backed and a little slower to get around, but seeing him dart around the pasture last evening, evading every attempt to be caught until we bribed him, showed me that there’s a lot of the young Otis left in there, too. He’s inspires me to not get bogged down in “grownup life” and take time for play.

How do your horses inspire you?