A Toy and Red Dress For Christmas

It was the 50’s. Life was good in a small Iowa town for the cute little red-haired girl. Enough Christmas years had passed and the little girl realized that she should get her mother a present. The concept of giving to others had come to the little girl. “Mommy, what do you want for Christmas?” Mommy thought about it for a couple of seconds and replied, “I’d like a toy and a red dress.” Mommy grew up during the depression when getting a toy for Christmas was very special. Having…

Velvet – How to Win at Musical Sacks!

3/4/98     One of the Kansas City Regional Fox Trotter club’s favorite game for a FUN horse show EVENT is musical sacks. There are some horses in our club that stomp on the sack when they get close. They’ve probably been trained to do that. I thought I would offer the readers of this Corner Page, a natural horsemanship training strategy to prepare for musical sacks. Musical sacks is played just like musical chairs, except the horses must step on the feed sack. We generally double the feed sacks.…

The Big Fear

November 29, 1997 I’m always on missions. The mission for this column is FEAR! I’m talking to new: Women Adult Riders Inspired by the Option of Retirement or WARRIOR! This is for the WARRIORS who have discovered the unforgiving hardness of the ground and developed fear. The WARRIOR buys a horse and it bolts, bucks or shys and the WARRIOR hits the ground. The ground whispers to you...death, broken bones, pain. Your continuing mortality becomes a great concern. Your self confidence goes underground!You are not alone. You are in the…

Riding Velvet is ah sigh so Good

I decided to ride Velvet for a while at Pine Dell Farm every evening that it was in the high 20's to 30's.  Ah, life is good with an highly trained finished horse. I just might be over my mad desire to have a young horse to finish every 5-8 years or so.  It's fun to get Velvet and I back into coordination.

Lord Help Me Jesus

Velvet brought me one step closer to redemption.  I don't believe I've ever felt the need to scream outloud my need for Jesus to save me.  I've had the thought many times, but I kept it internal.  I've had conversations wtih Jesus and God before, but no one got to listen in.  Velvet, the trained cow horse, got me to scream for help for all to hear. Everyone in the cow clinic and all the auditors and probably the neighbors heard me scream, "Lord Help Me Jesus!" Velvet took over…

She Came Knocking-Miss America

I thought my life was pretty exciting. It is not the case.  I found out just how boring my real life was.  It happened at 5:45 AM October 2012  Tues.   I was trying to catch Lucky Star in the yard and put him back into the pasture. I've been from house to barn and no Lucky! Usually Lucky Star sees my in the yard and silently appears about 6" from my face.   I shook the grain bucket and I caught a glimpse of him in the light of the…