I am on the eve of 60 years of age peering across an amazing, tranquil, turquoise sea. My three daughters surprised me with a mother/daughter cruise and today we are in Cozumel. Exotic, beautiful, and a tad dangerous. And yet today, I can see it is a little illustrative of my life. 

Sixty years ago tomorrow, my little momma gave birth to me on a snowny night in Denver. My dad stayed with her as I was born, unusual in those days. 

Since then I have lived 13 cities in eight states, visited nine countries and 41 of the 50 states. I have lived in the big city and small town-loving them both. 

I have had three of the most wonderful daughters and nine husbands (got you-not really)! I have two terrific son-in-laws and the most amazing grandchildren!!

On this night before my sixth decade begins, I am grateful for the galactic ups and downs of my life (most of the time).  I have been abunditantly blessed. I have faced some times of gut-wrenching sorrow. I have seen thousands of amazing sunsets and been lucky enough to rise the next day to an opportunity to do it all again. 

I have loved deeply. I have climbed high mountains in foreign lands and ridden miles on the back of a true horse. 

What a wonderful life I have lived. If I had to check out today I would be okay. I have done and loved all of my days. 

But I am, oh, so eager, to head into my next decade. My three daughters each have their own futures to roll out. Futures of their own lives, achieving their own goals. I have grandchildren to watch as they grow into amazing young adults. 

I want to see my many diverse friends tell their own stories and win their own races ( whatever those are).   

And I want to see my young horses mature, develop and hopefully, jump the moon. 

My sixtieth birthday will dawn in many ways, as just the start of another day.  But I cannot tell you how grateful I am that I am here to wake up to one more day of my amazing life. 

Thank you, my family and friends, for 21,900 days of wonder, heart-break, joy and mostly of love.  Sixty years-wow-go me!  Go life!

Lauren and I in my fun, decorated stateroom

Two my beautiful daughters, Ally and Amber.

The whole group!

You are only as young (and crazy) as you act!

Flicka gleaming in the evening light after a thorough clean up by Alex and Lauren. Looks like a show pony not a rescue. Wow!

So, let’s go back to the fall of last year.  My neighbor had recently lost his wife to heart disease and as time wore on, his ability to care for her horses (and ponies) went downhill.  It was never a surprise to see the horses had broken through their fence and were grazing along the road.  And nine times out of ten, the best escape artist was the black pony they called Flicka.  The other horses were not quite so crafty and were losing weight on the diminished grass in their pasture as our dry summer had continued.

As I drove home from work one day, I saw the sheriff’s horse trailer at this property loading the horses.  But my Texas neighbors being what they are, swooped in and immediately took over the care of four of the very worst of the horses.  That left the pony Flicka and a Mustang to go to the sheriff’s quarantine and eventual sale at auction.  But again, my determined neighbors, tried to help those two ponies find life long homes as well.

I had not met my neighbor Pauline before, when she showed up to beseech me to take one of the ponies.  Before she left, I had agreed to take Flicka and Isabel (one of our boarders) agreed to take the Mustang.  They still had to wait out the quarantine and then outbid the kill buyers. 

Some stories I wrote about the two ponies as they came to live at my barn are chronicled here:

Rescue Initiated-Rescue Complete

Mustang Love

A Week in the Life

There are three blogs from that time around the ponies. You might enjoy reading them all.

We found Flicka, who we re-named Jete’,  to be a beautiful and sweet girl but she was too much of a ride for my granddaughter Jordyn and we did not have much use for her.  Lauren and I talked it over and decided to offer her to our friend Dianne who had more riders and more need for the black pony.  Dianne loved her from the first moment, re-named her Baby J, and the pony has gone on to win numerous blue ribbons and several championships.  I found it to be a very successful re-homing.

I am not sure that my neighbors agreed with my plan when they failed to see the shiny black pony in my pasture.  Pauline came back to property to inquire as to where the pony had gone.  This was a very fair question in light of the time and money they had spent to get the pony from the auction. I told her my friend had the pony and maybe I read more disappointment in her face than there actually was, but I felt bad that we had sent the pony away.

Throughout this year, I had checked in with Dianne to see how Baby J was doing.  I heard she was a favorite of many of kids, they liked riding her and caring for her.  Over Christmas break, Jordyn spent three days at a “mini-camp” at Dianne’s barn.  I had lots of opportunities to see Baby J and talk with Dianne.  In the time we have been in our new place (almost three years now) Dianne had not been over to visit.  We set a time for me to “kid-nap” her on the Thursday before Christmas.

Our two places are only miles apart as the crow flies but due to the river between us, it is a little complicated to get to my place and many long-time residents have no idea these horse properties exist up on the bank of the Brazos River.  As we got close to turning on my road, Dianne sat up and said, “I have been here before!”

“Was it to go to Nancy Lindsey’s place?  She has been here for years.” I said.

“No”, Dianne replied, “I bought ponies from this lady in the first house on the right”.

As we drove by the house, now broken down and uninhabitable, she pointed it out. Dianne told me she had bought two ponies that I knew well, Bubblegum and Sophie (Jordyn once even showed Sophie), from the lady that had lived there. I knew immediately who she was talking about, none other than my now deceased neighbor’s wife, who had once owned the very pony I had given her.

I told Dianne gently that the women was now deceased.  Her husband had built a new house for them where he lives now, right next door to the place Dianne had bought ponies from years ago.

For those of you that believe in divine intervention, or the universe having an order to it or even Karma, for me this was a beautiful example.  Dianne had known my neighbor for many years and purchased two ponies that went on to have much love, wonderful homes and lots of children to ride them.  How wonderful is it that her pony through the sheriff’s confiscation, my neighbor’s intervention, and through my desire to give the pony the best home she could have, ended up right back at the place that her other ponies had gone so many years ago?

A fitting story for the holiday I would say!

I hope you all are approaching the New Year with hope and inspiration!

As always, thanks for riding along!

January morning at Six Meadow Farm

Lauren receiving her second place ribbon before taking her first victory gallop.

Lauren and two of our boarders, Lisa and Libby, headed down to San Antonio a couple of weeks ago for a horse show.  Nothing unusual about this, but all three headed to the show without a trainer along for guidance.  Riders, like most athletes, do better with a trainer along.  It is hard see beyond your own biases and shortcomings to perform at a high level without professional guidance.  Some might even call it a waste of time and money.

But these ladies have been in the saddle awhile and thought a little weekend show away would be a fun activity.  Feather, due to a series of events beyond our control, has not been in the show ring this year.  It was a chance to get her back in the ring and see how she was faring.  I bid them good bye and good luck as they left on Friday morning.

Feather took the trip totally in stride.  In fact, she was so quiet and fluid, the hunter ring would have welcomed her.  I was proud of Lauren making her own decisions on what classes to enter, figuring out her own path through the posted course and coming out of her first class with a second place ribbon.

 Later, instead of wasting Feather’s energy in regular classes, Lauren waited for the higher fences in the Jumper Classic. There was more money on the line in this class as well. Remember fastest horse through the course with the fewest faults wins. Lauren, as her own trainer, thought she and Feather should make a quick, inside turn that would have cut seconds off her time. Lauren, the rider, got a little freaked out by the speed she was going when she should have made the inside turn. They went the long route and lost by two seconds. 

Still, a good first outing and good return to the ring for Feather. 

Lauren with beautiful Feather

Before the girls got loaded to leave Sam Antonio, they managed to break the latch of the slant (divider) of my almost new trailer. 

This sets up first time number two. Once back from San Antonio, Lauren took the trailer to our local trailer repair shop.  They took one look and said the amount of damage to trailer was more than they handled and advised we head back to the dealer. 

One a side note, I was thinking this little party to SA to show – despite Lauren’s winnings, was starting to have cost me a lot!!

Anyway, we called the dealer who was 100+ miles away in Seguin, Texas, verified they had the parts and headed off to spend more money. Of course, then we blew a tire on the trailer and ended up on the side of highway with no one to help us for 50 miles in any direction. Lauren got Blake on the phone and he walked her through the change the tire process. 

So, for the first time ever, Lauren changed a tire. It was terrifying!  We were sitting on the side of the road on I-10, one of the busiest interstates in the US, changing our first tire.  The big semis would roll by and the whole trailer would shake. 

Years ago our friend Gaylyn gave us the yellow tire holder upper thing. Never used it before. But we were very glad we had it now. And fortunately we had a good spare. Lauren got the old tire off, the new tire on and off we went.  I was super glad no horses were in the trailer!  And super glad my daughter had just successfully changed her first tire. 

When we got to the dealership we dropped off the trailer and headed to the little local tire store to buy a new spare. The one new spare cost me what two similar tires would have cost in Houston. I was really starting to wish the trailer had never gone to SA in the first place. 

Anyway, my first takes place next! Sunday we were doing chores around the barn and Lauren started screaming. Only one thing gets her going like that-SNAKES!!  

It was a fairly good sized water moccasin that apparently had been living under the horse’s water trough. Not good. We were lucky they, the dogs and all of us were safe. 

My vet Lynn was there working on a horse and her husband, Klaus, assisted me in the snake kill. I had maybe killed smaller snakes before but this was my first time to kill a venomous one. I already had my tall riding boots on- I was ready!

The snake tried to slither away. I slammed the shovel down to kill him. But caught him too far back in his body. I had to wait for Klaus to get another shovel and successfully cut off his head before the killing was over.  I was glad the Klaus was there as Lauren certainly wouldn’t have helped me.

The last “first” of this update was Lauren voted in her very first election. Regardless of how awful our choices are, get out and vote!

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I heard news on several friends this week who are battling very severe illnesses and injuries. I am praying for them and praying for all of you that need help, love or just a little strength. 

As always thanks for riding along!