Warp speeding ahead, We re re located back to Michigan with horses in tow. Struggled to find trainers. Had the sad sad day of having to lay my sons beloved horse to rest. The horse was near 40  years old and we could not ask him to suffer another winter. My son stopped riding after, his loyalty to his horse was heart wrenching . Then a very cute girl ask my son to join the  high school equestrian team. I will always owe that girl except to fulfill that request my son began using my dressage horse. It was not a love at first  relationship. My horse had only ever been ridden by me and truly disliked my son. My son’s confidence was weak;  yet there stood a very cute girl expecting them to be the schools star jumpers The horse and boy fought hard to come to terms with each other. Now to add burned to this quest my horse is a freak-n huge Spanish Normand and we were living in Quarter horse world. Yes they stood out BIG TIME!!! It took only one meet to get the word out . Bleachers filled with crowds of people to see the big black horse jump. The horse ate it up, the boy ate it up and better yet my son was the only boy on any high school team, girls were drawn to them like flies to honey.  They became an item, I did not get to ride my horse much during the high school years.


Some where in this time frame I injured my back and was put on medication for almost a year before the Doctor’s operated. The meds caused me to gain a ton of weight.  The first three months I gained 62 pounds alone. Hence the “Fat lady.”


Shortly after my son graduated high school, the time I thought I’d get my horse back,  he announced he was going to study Equestrian sports and need to take “MY” horse to college with him. Over the years I had been searching for a new horse for my son only to fail in every attempt. When It hit me I need to get myself a new horse. Not that I wanted to but I had to . A mom has to do what a mom has to do. My son was leaving and so was my horse, I’m not sure which hurt more. Enter the Marvelous Mare!!!

Weekly riding lessons improved school grades which turn into more lessons than once a week and by summer the boy was at the barn as much as possible. The barn he was at did not really care to have “a boy” around but he did not care. In group lessons he always got the horse the girls did not want, but he did not care. Between a skater and now another horse nut, I was on a dead run taking one kid here the other there. Since I was at the barn with my son I decided lease a horse there and began learning dressage while he was riding. A new partnership was formed; I also began to enjoy not jumping. Along this time my husband’s career required a re-location out west. He’s tool in convincing us (ok! we all wanted to move) was “we could buy our own horses.” We moved in April, found a barn within weeks of moving and by November we owned two horses.  Our lives have never been the same.       

Getting started

The road is long and windy, but somehow we are here…. I woke up one day to find my kids grown and gone. How that happened so fast I'm not sure. Now, what do I do???  At first the only thought is to throw the covers over my head, it’s all over…

 Yes, my kids were my life. No job could compare to being their mother. Oh my gosh, my kids keep me moving, NON STOP.  Our daughter was a completive figure skater, soccer player, genuine social butterfly; if it was there she was in it, band, drama, sports etc…she entered this world early, fast and on the move and she has never slowed down. She filled her days in ten minute slots and not one slot was empty. Our son a little less social than her (I mean little like 1%) was also very active in sports, drama, school and he was/is my partner in the crime of equestrian world.

Like so many, my love for horses began at a very young age and never left.  I have countless stories of sneaking out to my cousin’s horses but this will be a moving forward tale not one of reminiscing. I’m only giving a bit of history to catch you up to today.

I had horses as a child, stepped way shortly for college, career and family, shortly after my son was born a friend talked me into taking a series of riding lessons at a jump barn as a way to get back in shape.  I was great.

By the time my son was in first grade, I was working full time, chasing a skater all over and feeling bad because he was being left behind so much, other than seasonal pee wee sports he had nothing but T.V. to fill his life. He was struggling with spelling in school and I could not motivate him to study.  One day a deal was struck if he got several 100% he could have a riding lesson. Grades went up and I had to find a barn and trainer to fulfill my promise, the barn I rode at only took kids 12 years old and up. I made call after call... after a frustrating few weeks I found a barn that had a program for his age.  Our lives have never been the same.