Just a Little More!

"So, you wish to know just a little more of me, eh? How sweet!" the unicorn whinneys and tosses her head.

Well, to start, I am a little grey unicorn named Tarpan which means "wild horse." There is actually a subspecies of horse (Equus caballus gmelini) that was one of the primitive horses of the world. Early tarpans were small and tough creatures who influenced much of the later horse stock. Closely related to the Asian wild horse, or Przewalskii Horse, these two are often confused. But do not get them mixed up, they are very different. One large difference is that the Asian wild horse still exists, albeit in very limited numbers. The Tarpan's story is different. Hunted to extinction in the 18th century, the Tarpan would never walk the earth again . . . or would it. In an effort to resurrect the ancient horse, locals took select horses from their stock, believed to have a lot of tarpan blood in them and began to breed them for the characteristics of the ancient tarpans. The result is wild herds of horses that so closely resemble their ancient counterparts, you can barely tell them apart.

Believed to be descendent of the tarpan, the Hucul and Konik were used to resurrect the ancient horse.

Anyways, Tarpan the unicorn is a figment of one girl's imagination. That girl is me. Perhaps it all started many years ago when my grandmother gave me a stuffed unicorn when I was two. Many stories I recall of that unicorn, like when I hung him in the window to keep away the monsters or when i positioned him on top of the shelves, horn pointing to the ground to keep away the monsters. He was my protector. It wasn't until I was about twelve though that I named him Unico. Unico went and still goes with me everywhere. He has been with me through it all, seeing my tears and smiles. That shirt you see him wearing I put on him when I was ten because I wanted him to have a tunic and I didn't want to give up that shirt. It reads, "'Purple Pickles' Misty Harbor Day Camp July '88."

Back to the time line. After I got Unico, I refused to be called anything but Unicorn for a month. I don't recall any of this, but it must have been horrible for my mother. I read about unicorns and obsessed about them as I grew up. If I wasn't wanting to be a unicorn, I wanted to ride one, be with one, just know one. It never truly happened, but now there is Tarpan. Tarpan and I are closer than any. She is me.