There is something about the love between girls and horses that goes beyond human understanding. It's a connection between them that blends love, respect, wonder, nurturing, and empathy and that transcends time.

For Lisa Nicholas of West Seattle, her goal as a girl was to one day own the horse of her dreams, a golden palomino. Through her teenage years she learned to ride horses and she came to own some but never that unique horse that she knew was the one she sought.

She married, and went about her life. Her husband is a ham radio fan and a Boeing employee. One day she accompanied him to a meeting of all the clubs at the company, "and I looked out the window from the exercise building and here was this beautiful golden horse that is every little girl's dream. So I went down and saw her and said to the owner, 'I don't suppose she's for sale,' and she said, 'I think she might be." Nicholas bought the horse and named her Blondie (though that wasn't her registered name) and ended up boarding her at the Aqua Barn Ranch in Maple Valley. She would ride Blondie frequently and the two bonded completely. Horse and owner in an absolute love affair that lasted for six years.

Then life intervened. Nicholas's mother became very ill and the cost of her care was expensive. It came down to an unthinkable choice but it had to be made. She had to sell the love of her life. She chose a 4H family with a little girl. "I will never forget the day that the decision was made and the family came out with their little girl and I handed the lead line to her and I put my hand on her shoulder and we both walked out of the barn together. She let Blondie out into the pasture. I wondered what I had done. I knew that it was a good home."

She kept tabs on Blondie for awhile but as time passed she lost track. Nicholas went to school, changed careers, had cancer and through the ensuing years lost her registry number. " But I never forgot about her. This little horse…there's only one horse in the world for me, and it was this one. It was that one in a million. The minute I saw her something happened between me and that little horse, and it's still there."

18 years passed, but her love for Blondie never flagged. In every encounter with other horse owners or even just friends Nicholas would say, "I wish you could have seen Blondie, or you know what Blondie would have done."

One evening she and her husband were out for dinner in Fremont, but the restaurant was closed. Venturing around the corner she saw Dusty Strings Music Shop well known for harps and dulcimers. Because she had always loved the harp she checked for a West Seattle instructor and signed up with Susan McLain of Greensleevesharp.com. The two became fast friends and in addition to their shared musical interest it turned out they both loved horses.

McLain said, "Lisa is very timid and one day during a harp lesson I said, 'Lisa, get after that harp like it's a wild pony. Put some energy into it. This is a renegade harp!' and she said, 'Do you ride' and I said 'yeah!' and we put the harp down and went upstairs and immediately started looking at horses. I saw a Norwegian Fjord horse and I said, 'That's my horse,' but she was talking on and on about wanting a Palomino just like Blondie."

They bought the Fjord horse, named him Finn and took lessons on Vashon Island. They ended up giving him back to the owner after a year and McLain then bought another Fjord horse she named Earl to honor her father. But for Nicholas, no horse could compare to Blondie. "She never stopped talking about her," said McLain.

Nicholas didn't know if Blondie was still alive and did shop for a horse like her but "her sweetness and temperament and the true golden palomino is very hard to find." She bought a brown Arabian horse but it wasn't the same.

"Susan finally got so sick of my talking about Blondie (and I was ready to hire a pet detective)," that she got motivated and thought she should just check through Facebook. McLain asked Nicholas to "make a list of every single person she knew associated with Blondie, "then I did a Facebook search for those people, and I got a hit. A woman that didn't remember Blondie, but gave me a tip that if I were to call the Quarter Horse Association, I did not need the number, I just needed the registered name."

"We called and gave them the registered name, 'Holly Daisy Doc' and they said, 'Oh yes, she's in Deer Park, Washington, (a suburb of Spokane)," said McLain.

"We called the only people in Deer Park with the last name they gave us and asked if they owned that horse and they said yes."

The two friends asked permission to visit and it was granted so they made the drive the next Sunday. "As soon as I could see their house I was scanning the horizon for Blondie," said Nicholas. " I met the family and blurted out, 'Where is she?"

But at first, Blondie showed no signs of knowing who Nicholas was. "I was crying so hard, all I could say was, 'My little girl, I didn't even know if you were still alive. 'Honey you don't remember me', and I was kissing her and holding her and patting her and she knew there was this very friendly person here. Then we took her out and they did let me ride her. Then I was talking to her and I started talking to her about the old days at the Aqua Barn Ranch. But what I didn't realize was that I was picturing it in my mind. Then she knew. I was brushing her as she was grazing and I said 'Blondie' and she looked up at me. I knew she remembered the name. But when I said, 'Honey give me a kiss', that upper lip, the muscles started twitching and she did it three times. Then I knew she remembered."

Nicholas asked to buy her but the family declined. She left in tears.

Her love for Blondie revitalized, she went home and wrote a heartfelt letter to the family telling them she could not tell them what it meant to find Blondie again. Nicholas, who is 60 asked the family if they would sell her Blondie, now 27, if they "would let me have her for the end of her life." They were so moved by the letter they agreed.

Today, Blondie lives on Vashon lsland at Bay Breeze Farm and Lisa Nicholas and her husband are closer than ever to her and no surprise, are shopping for a home near her.

"It's amazing to me that I found her," Nicholas said. "I feel like I've come full circle. I have her again. We're picking up right where we left off. I know this horse. She's my little girl, this beautiful, beautiful horse."