Fred, that picture sort of bugs me.
It doesn’t appear processed/Photoshopped. That’s not it.
A trip to the mainland? California? I don’t think so.
For one thing, BO is barefoot. I couldn’t think of any (even 1970s-era) California livery stable that would have let some 10-12-year-old kid ride without footwear of some sort (preferably with heels).
For another, the horses they’re riding don’t look like any standard-issue rental horses I’ve seen at any rental stable in California. Reasons?
(a) The horses are too small. They appear to be no higher than 15 hands. For a kid that’s a good size, but for an adult they might get them a bigger horse.
(b) The tack is Eastern/English style, with ring snaffle bits and metal stirrups. A California livery stable would have Western tack: cheek bar snaffle bits, big leather saddles with horns, and leather/wood stirrups.
Doesn’t look right to me.
A thought about the horse photo. Looks like Northern CA scenery to me, at least the part around SF/north, not redwood country of course.
Maybe they were visiting someone who owned horses; a private individual who happened to have smallish horses and didn’t mind if the kid was barefoot. And might have had the English horse gear. A lot of kids went barefoot in HI around that time, even to school sometimes; probably the same in Indo.
By golly! I think you’re right...those poor horses, I kept thinking, the one she’s sitting on looks about ready to give up the ghost. And as you say, who in their right mind would allow a child to ride barefoot, or allow an adult to hold someone like little Maya in their lap?
Maybe still in Indonesia.