Ridin', Reinin' and Writin'

I had hauled my broodmare to the vet clinic for breeding. In a once-in-a-lifetime decision, I booked her to Wimpys Little Step, the #1 NRHA reining stallion in 2009. Prima, a daughter of Gallo Del Cielo (another leading sire of reining horses), is the dam of my two stallions, Running With Wolves and Walking With Wolves. She is also the dam of Wildwood Liberty, successfully shown last year as a three year old. The prospective offspring of this mating was a hot topic of conversation over coffee, in the barns and during a night out in a local restaurant. What else did we talk about? We talked about horses we owned, horses we had once owned, horse accidents we had, training methods, clinics we had attended and, most importantly, the connection we felt to our horses.

I hauled my 3 year old stallion and a yearling colt with me to Armstrong. The colt (sired by Running With Wolves) was hitching a ride to the coast to the barn of a Working Cowhorse trainer. When I dropped him off for the next leg of his journey, the young mother and I talked at length about breeding, cowhorses, barrel racing for at least an hour. She is a barrel racer - or so I thought - that is now riding Working Cowhorse. I asked her if she has given up barrel racing.

"Not really," she said, "because my kids are going to barrel race. We are going all directions now." Her husband ropes...

I drove back to my friend's place to unhitch the trailer and check on my young stallion in a stall in her barn. He had already buddied a little with the senior Arabian mare of my friend's, a mare she had raised and of course felt a deep affection for.

"She still misses PJ," Mae said (She lost PJ last winter.) Mae  misses PJ too...

"I'll be back to ride Little Wolf before we go out to dinner," I told Mae, and I was. After a whirlwind tour of a garden center, a fabric center (for show shirt material!), and two western stores, more "horse talk" with a sales girl who reins and a quick ride on Little Wolf, four of us met for dinner. What a great evening spent with women who love their horses!

The next day I drove to Mandy's farm to teach a lesson and see the Running With Wolves two year olds she had bought as weanlings. How wonderful to have sold to such a loving home! (Sable is pictured with Mandy at the beginning of this blog.) Mandy was preparing for a clinic at her place and was unbelievably busy - but not too busy to talk horses! We definitely understand each other's affection for these four legged animals!

At 2:00 PM I met Rick and Cindy from the south Okanagan, who had driven up to visit with me ... and watch me ride Little Wolf. After the ride Mae called us in for coffee. For the next two hours, we chatted about our horses, past horse experiences and plans for a "horsey" future.

"I thought I could live without horses," Rick said, "but I was wrong." A serious heart attack and a change of lifestyle had not deterred him. He was back riding and he asked me to send him photos of a yearling.

The last evening in Armstrong I spent with Mae and Leslie (who is recovering from a horse wreck - a broken collar bone and four ribs!) We watched two DVDs I had brought - Wildwood promotional tape and a joyful short film of new foals I had made from footage I had gathered over the years.

The next morning, I picked up a mare to take back with me for breeding and started the long drive home. I had lots to think about - all those conversations with people with like interests.

"I have a lot of really good friends who love their horses, " I thought. "That's the way it should be."