Thankful Thursday – The Past Comes Back
Once again, it’s time for Thankful Thursday! I hope this post inspires you to consider the things in your life that you are grateful for. If you have a blog, consider posting about it there and link back here. If you don’t have a blog, please feel welcome to comment here on what you are grateful for in your own life. If you don’t feel comfortable sharing, then just take a few moments to reflect on all that you have. If you’d like to tag other bloggers that participate, feel free to do that.
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a Thankful Thursday, but my family had an experience last week that definitely warrants a post for this week’s edition. Sometimes we lose track of our purpose or meaning and then things fall into your lap that remind you to wake up and get back on track. You all know about my recent struggles with the direction that my life has been heading in. What you don’t know is how I’ve been brainstorming about ways to bring the passion back into my life and give me the joy I’ve been missing for so long now. Obviously the horse world is a big part of that. So imagine my surprise when my mom got a call last week from a voice in our family’s vault of memories.
“J” was instrumental in starting this journey not only for me but for my entire family. He was the first person to ever give any of us a riding lesson. He helped us find our first 5 or 6 horses. He was there for the birth of our first foal. He took us to our first horse show. In short, our experiences with J put us on the path that took us around the country and back and made two little girls’ lives so much brighter. (And two parents’ lives so much poorer – but it’s worth it, right Mom and Dad?!)
Our visit to this gorgeous Alabama farm led to the purchase of two National and World Champion horses
We rode with J for about 5 years in total and gained a solid foundation in riding. I still remember that his friend, “J-Girl,” would give us lessons on horse care in the parking lot of our stable, teaching us the parts of the horse and how to properly care for them. We made a lot of friends and fell in love with the horse business, in no small part because of our experiences with J. One of my favorite memories was a wintertime road trip from Pennsylvania to Alabama to look at some horses. This was my first visit to a top rated farm and my initial exposure to very high quality horses. I’m embarrassed to say that I can no longer remember the name of the farm, but the stallion that resided there was Zippos Countryboy and his babies dotted the landscape. Everywhere we turned there were foals with their mothers, show horses, broodmares. I very clearly remember falling even more in love with horses while we were there. Our motorhome pulled out of their driveway after that visit in 1989 carrying a huge and beautiful yearling filly named Zippos Strawmaid. This filly would go on to become a National Champion in the 3 year old Hunter under Saddle and my sister’s mount for years in the flat and over fences classes. After her show career ended, she went on to produce Custom Maid Zippo, who was the Champion Western Horse at the 2004 Appaloosa World Show. Strawmaid has been sold a couple of times and she keeps coming back to us. This time she’ll live out her remaining days on my sister’s farm, alongside her last gorgeous foal.
Strawmaid as a yearling, just two months after we brought her to Pennsylvania.
Another life changing moment that came out of our trip to that Alabama farm was my parent’s introduction to a beautiful and talented yearling colt named Zippo Par Three. Although we weren’t ready for a stallion then, that meeting paved the way to our first National and World championships (in western pleasure) and our future breeding program. Just a little more than a year later, we had several broodmares and Easy Acres Appaloosas was created. Without J, Tiny would have never been born.
It’s hard for me to remember how things ended with J, but I know it was sudden and final. I believe he was at a crossroads in his life and wanted to get out of the horse business. We lost touch and have had no contact for the past 21 years. My mom relayed his shock at hearing about our successes in the show arena and in life. He had no idea how powerfully he impacted our family back then. Oddly, it was a missed transfer of ownership from a horse (Tammy) he got for us back in 1988 that brought J back into our lives now – he wants to register one of her babies that he purchased recently and apparently she was never transferred out of our name when we sold her years ago. Talk about full circle…
Tammy's (and our) first baby, QT, shown in 1989 shortly after his Valentine's Day birth
I haven’t spoken to J yet, but I will. I want to thank him with an adult’s wisdom for all the things he has done for my family and for me. He brought a little girl’s dream to life back in 1985 and I can never thank him enough for that.
I hope you all have a happy Thursday and please visit these other sites that frequently participate in Thankful Thursday:
Akal Ranch, Enlightened Horsemanship Through Touch, The Pony Expression, and Tired Dog Ranch.
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