When I went to Dobie's library, the first things that I noticed were the books. There were large collections of books on four sides of the wall. I was amazed that he could read that much in his lifetime. I wanted to be like him. I could not imagine what I was going to do if I were him. Probably he would stay in the library all the time, and just to read book. Also, I saw many of his items, such as his stove, table, chair and picture. In his portrait, he seemed like he traveled to a lot of places and many experiences on his life. When I went to see the mustang, they were very dynamic, it caused me felt that they were running in a huge stampede. They seemed to run toward us in a tremendous speed. If I did not read the words that were carved in the base, I would not know that the mustang had given such a tremendous help to the Americans and the human civilization. The next stop was the Freedom Mare. The scenery was very vivid, and each part of his body showed a very lively action. "Fleet barb of the prairie, in vain they prepare, for thy neck, arched in beauty, the treacherous snare; thou wilt toss thy proud head, and with nostrils stretched wide, Defy them again, as thou still hast defied."(314) From my observation, I conjectured the horse was going to jump over a fence. I guessed he wanted to jump over the fence because he wanted freedom, and he did not want to be imprisoned in the ranch anymore. There were similarities between the Freedom Mare and the Mustangs. They were acting in a very dynamic way. The Mustang were running in a great speed and the Freedom Mare were jumping very high to gain his freedom. I thought they both showed great strength and with their physical beauty, it further enhanced their liveliness. The next trip was the longhorn. When I saw the longhorn, it made me feel like that I was in the big ranch and looking at a cow. The long horn that we observed seemed like to have a similar size. Compared to the horses, the cow seemed static. Although the longhorn looked quiet and shy , I definitely sure he is an intelligent animal. "We got the white steer in a roundup, but failed to hold him. So he went back to the Diablos for another year. He was as wild as any blacktail deer I ever saw but more cunning in keeping out of sight." (P292) Also, with his powerful body, it clearly showed that he got a tremendous strength that was hidden inside him. With his strong and sharp horns, he could do a lot of destruction, however, from the facial expression of the cow, he looked very tame, docile, and nice. It gave me a feeling all he wanted is to be alone and eat grass for the rest of his life. That kind of life sounds great to me because sometime being a human was just too complicated and too troublesome, and we always have to be busy. Longhorn had a long history in America and greatly improved the human society. I thought we should really thanks what a longhorn did to our civilization. After we saw the longhorn, we went to see the statue called "The family". In this sculpture, there is a horse, a pony, a calf, and a family. It showed that they were very happy. They were like a big family and had a strong bond with each other. It also showed that the child was carrying the calf very gently, and it made me feel that family was very important. They also gave me a feeling that they lived very happily and they did not seem to have any worry in their lives. It would be great if I ever had a chance to live in ranch and experience all this that nature provided to us.Return to Discussion Forum Index