My passion for horses started 40 years ago, growing up on a rural farm in northeast Kansas. Yes, the Land of Oz or tornado alley. No, a tornado never hit my parent’s farm. But, some days on the farm felt like a tornado did hit. There was always some sort of issue happening, but I would never trade that life for anything!
I am the oldest sibling of a family of six, I have 2 brothers and a sister. My most treasured memory as a child is my pony. The fun we had! The pony was a surprise. My father had 2 halters and 2 lead ropes, and handed them to me and my sister. We asked, “Why do we need these items?” And his reply, “You have ponies!” I was more excited than my sister.
We had to see them. So that hour, my father took the family to my grandparent’s house to see the 2 ponies he had purchased at a horse sale the previous evening. I will never forget that day, what a wonderful surprise! The drive of 5 miles to get there was like a 10 mile trip, (took twice as long to get there). The excitement, of what color they were?, their markings?, their disposition? I just wanted to get there and ride !!!! “RIDE?” came from my father’s voice. “They’re not broke.” WHAT? The excitement slipped a notch. What did Dad mean? He purchased something that was not going to work off the get go?…My thought was still, I have a pony! And what a beautiful black Shetland pony/Welsh cross she was.
She was about 52” high, a small white bell shape marking on her face, and left white ankle. And she was given the name by my father, as “Bell”, and my sister’s pony as “Dot”. And so, the adventure began. To be continued……Lori G
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