Yes, I was the kid that kept a shoe box with little
ceramic horses in it and thimbles
for their water buckets....it was
before Breyer....I was also that kid
in kindergarten who cantered around
the playground neighing. My
grandparents had work horses on
their farm but unfortunately I was
in the later group of grandchildren
and didn't get to enjoy the horses
or the farm for very long. My dad
would load us into the car every
Sat. and we would go out (seemed
like so far then, but it was only
about 10 miles) to the farm....I
remember all their names, Pepper,
Nellie Belle, Tar Baby and Madge
...I can remember my grandfather
putting a saddle on Madge one time
and leading me around the
field.....I must have pestered him
unmercifully because that is the
only time I remember him doing that.
I would stand out there as long as I
could just watching the horses in
the pasture. And I will never forget
the day when we piled out of the car
and the horses were gone. My
grandparents had sold them. I have a
picture in my mind of them loaded in
the back of a truck...but I don't
know if it's real or just a vision
like a bad dream. I know it was my
first heartache....I was about 5
years old.
At 19 I bought King. I had a job and saved $300 to
buy him from a girl I had
gone to high school with. I
paid an old retired farmer,
Mr. Morris, $6.00 a month
for pasture board....yes you
read that right $6.00 a
MONTH....I am pretty sure he
was part Tennessee Walker
but at that time I didn't
even know what I had. I was
19 and had wanted a horse my
whole life. I went out
everyday and took care of
him and rode him at every
given opportunity. At that
point, I had never had a
riding lesson and really
knew nothing about what I
was doing. The first morning
I rode him, he ran me
under a tree and I wasn't even smart enough to
duck....The limb caught me and
pulled me off backwards....I lay
there for a while because I thought
my neck was broken and I was surely
paralyzed. The funny thing is, just
like in a funny movie....the horse
just stood there and looked at me
like well what are you doing down
there? Eventually, I pulled myself
up and got back on. Believe me, I
was ready the next time he pulled
that trick.
I sold King when I moved to
Dallas to be closer to my boyfriend
and get a better job. I eventually
married that boyfriend, Jerry, who
did the most amazing thing for me.
He went and bought my horse back for
me. I knew then he was a
keeper.....the horse and the
husband.
This was my second horse. He was a palomino quarter
horse, Pepper Joe Harlow,
otherwise known as Joe. We
were living in Florida, ride
outside of Tampa....about
1980....I remember because I
was in the barn and had the
radio on the day President
Reagan was shot by John
Hinckley...
When we moved to Florida I
was fortunate to find a
place to take riding lessons
(my first)....found a great
lady named Debbie Demi (that
may not be correct spelling
of her last name) She was a
wonderful teacher. I wanted
to learn to ride English and
was
very blessed to find Debbie's farm. I took dressage
and jumping lessons....she taught me
a balanced seat...which would
benefit me greatly years down the
road when I started riding gaited
horses. Many people are under the
impression that dressage is "way up
there" in horsemanship.....in truth,
dressage is just good basic
horsemanship. Learning to
communicate with your horse through
your seat, legs and minimal use of
your hands is the best thing for
rider and horse.
I think the foremost
thing I learned from Debbie
was to ride without the
reins....Look mom, no
hands!...What I found out is
that most people ride
hanging on to the reins for
balance....just imagine how
awful that is for the
horse's mouth. Debbie often
gave me lessons on a lunge
line with no stirrups and my
arms crossed behind my back.
I also learned to jump
without stirrups. I
encourage anyone who wants
to learn to ride to start
out in dressage....it is the
truth of horsemanship. Thank
you, Debbie.
If I could tell people one
thing, here we go with "the one
thing" ....
you must have good hands,
calm hands....Imagine if you
were steering your car or
holding the stick to fly an
airplane....
...and the "second thing" is you must know where your
legs and heels are all the time you
are on the horse....be aware of what
you are communicating to the
horse....Almost every "nervous"
horse I've ever met has had a
nervous rider. If your horse
makes you nervous, you are not on
the right horse for you.
This is my daughter
Laura, at 15, with her
Arabian, Gay Elite. I went
through an Arabian decade. I
thought then they were the
horses of my dreams. They
were beautiful and when they
would look at me with those
big ol' eyes, my heart just
melted. I loved to just look
at them....and that's a good
thing because they were not
fun to ride. After my 2
daughters graduated high
school, we sold the Arabs
and the place, deciding it
was time we moved to town.
That lasted about 2 years. I
quickly figured out I wasn't
meant to live in the city.
We sold our house and
started looking for a horse
farm north of Dallas, closer
to where I grew up. That
path led me to
Sun's Top
Gun....and that's another
page.
