Maybe it started with my love for the Little House on the Prairie books which I read over and over (and over and over) as a little girl, but I've always had a real affinity for the pioneer spirit. Living on the wide open prairie always sounded so romantic to me. As a teen I was lucky enough to start riding horses, which solidified my love of livestock (it's true, I even love all the smells of the farm), and in college I had the privilege of traveling with the Colorado State University horse judging team (little known fact...) and visiting some unbelievable horse and cattle ranches in Oklahoma and Texas. If you've never visited a true ranch, you can only imagine the sheer size - thousands of acres and hundreds (or more) animals - but surely you can appreciate the staff needed to keep a ranch running. It was at this time that I melded my childhood love for Little House on the Prairie with my young adult experiences and dreaming of what it would be like to be a ranch wife: riding the fences, helping birth cattle, making apple pie and fried chicken for the ranch hands at lunch... I'm sure very little (if any) of that fantasy matches reality, but based upon my day dreaming yesterday it's apparently a dream I still hold dear.
I couldn't be happier with my real life, but maybe in my next life I'll be a pioneer (with running water though...) or a real cowgirl. Either way, I'm hopeful there are horses. Getting back to riding is a dream I know I can make into a reality, and hope to again in the future. In the meantime, here's a retro photo I found of myself aboard a real American Mustang - JB Andrew, aka "Andy". In this photo we're "swimming" in Denver's Highline Canal.
 |
| Me riding "Andy", circa 1993 (or so...) |
