Here's a Miniature Horse visiting a Waterfall

There's a lot happening right now, so please enjoy this picture and try not to think too much about it.

A miniature horse on a leash atop a waterfall.

At first, I looked up and thought I saw a very large dog.

It was not! It was, instead, a very small horse.

First, some backstory and history. On Saturday, my wife was out with her mom, so I drove the kids up to Fall Creek Falls up near Stoneville in Rockingham County. It’s a relatively new part of the relatively new Mayo River State Park, which opened in 2010. Years later, the park cut a trail and built a gravel parking at what they call the Deshazo Mill Access, which is a mile down a dusty road near the Virginia state line. There are no bathrooms there. There are only a few picnic tables and grills. It’s very low key and not a place that a lot of people visit (although paid supporters of the Rabbit Hole have been aware of this spot since last summer).

The trail there is only 1.3 miles long, and runs from the parking lot, along Fall Creek, then heads north along the Mayo River and passes the point where it splits into north and south forks. At Byrd’s Ledge, a rocky section the crosses the entire North Mayo, the path officially ends at the state line, which is marked by a tree with yellow stripes.

Byrd’s Ledge, in the North Mayo River.

That last part interests me greatly as a person who is a wee bit obsessed with North Carolina’s state border. And, for what it’s worth, the Mayo River is not named for the condiment or the bowl game. It honors a dude named Mayo who surveyed the line under the direction of William Byrd, an extremely petty Virginian who really loved this particular spot along the state line, bought 20,000 acres nearby, and named it the “Land of Eden.” And now you know where the town of Eden, North Carolina got its name.

I’m really burying the lede here though. Not even a quarter-mile down the trail is Fall Creek Falls, a 20-foot-tall rock formation with water flowing over it. It’s far from the biggest or most majestic waterfall in North Carolina, but it’s a waterfall, and it’s close by, and it gets the job done for us. The kids can wade in at the bottom and climb up a dry part of it without getting dangerously high above the water. People throw up hammocks. They sit on a bench at the top and look down. They stop looking at their phones because they don’t have service. They bring their dogs, who get to wade or swim in the cool water. Our goldendoodle puppy, Millie, was a bit tentative, but she did pose for at least one picture.

LOOKIT THE PUPPY.

Anyhow, we were getting ready to pack up and go when we saw the horse. I told my 9-year-old son, who then looked up, pointed, and screamed “HORSE!” This got the attention of my 7-year-old daughter, who also yelled “HORSE!” and pointed. They then just yelled “HORSE HORSE HORSE” at the top of their lungs for a good 30 seconds.

The handler, I think, was trying to get a picture of the miniature horse. A few minutes later, she brought him down to the bottom, where my kids and I got a closer look. The horse was a miniature therapy horse on a leash (they’re A Thing!). It really behaved like an oversized dog, the handler said. My kids asked permission to pet him, and then gave him a few gentle rubs. Millie sort of glared at the horse, unsure how to handle a large, chill animal that was at least four times her size.

Then the horse and his handler continued on down the trail, and we packed up our stuff and left. I’ve had some strange things happen to me over the years. This one was the horsiest.

Did I get the name of the horse? I did not. Did I find out why it was there? No. Did I ask about the nature of the therapy that this horse provides? Nope. I was fairly preoccupied with wrangling my kids for a picture while trying to keep the dog away from the hooves. I did a quick search after I got home for any pictures, but found none. From a basic journalistic standpoint, I failed.

I often feel a need to get to the bottom of everything. This time, I think I’m good! This is a rare moment when I don’t want too much information to harsh my vibe. There’s a lot going on right now. You know, with (gestures broadly). But this weekend, I saw a Li’l Sebastian-adjacent animal perched atop a waterfall and it brightened my day a little bit. Maybe it’ll brighten yours. Or, maybe you’ll just have this song in your head for the foreseeable future.

Spread your wings and fly.