Horses

I have a horse story for you.In November 1966 I was a careless 16 year old.I had a horse that I rode in the local gymkhanas.He was a bit of ahot head.One nasty cold sleeting afternoon I told my dad I was going to clean the stalls and excersize my horse.Dad said no because my cinch was almost worn through and there was ice all over and the horse had thrown a shoe.The shoes has boriam ( a non skid agent)on them.I headed for the barn,shoveled out all the road apples and decided to just take my boy out for a short jaunt.After all Daddy would never know.I had on a pair of flat bottom sneakers which was another rule I was breaking.I was supposed to always ride with boots unless I was bareback. Well,I saddled the ole boy up and jumped aboard and headed down the paved road toward the local mom n pop store.I just wanted to go grab a coke and candy bar and after all dad was in the house reading the paper and he'd never know! As I broke over the hill I would soon be going down ,the streetlight came on and I could see how icy it was.I pulled him to a halt as a huge icecycle fell of a building close to the road making an incrediable noise and we were off.I tried again to stop him and he came up short sliding on the bare hoof and going down on top of my right leg.He lay there shaking,he was very high strung.I talked to him and asked him to get up never noticing that my right foot had slid through the stirrup.My leg was numb on that side.When he got up it whipped my off my feet and I screamed and that was it.He dragged me for alittle over a quarter of a mile .I went through a redlight and was headed down a long curving hill(at one point it almost meets the road then vears back to the bridge) toward an iron bridge. In the meantime a couple and their children were coming from the other direction and could see me before I met the bridge.He said he had seen a western where someone had thrown a coat over a horses head to stop it.He got to the bridge,jumped out with his coat and ran toward me and my wild steed.He threw the coat toward the horse and grabbed the horn and the cinch broke leaving the saddle free to fall on top of me and the horse was gone.I was in pretty bad shape for a long time and I think it's why I have fibromyalgia today.I still love my horses and I have 5.Moral of the story is do what your daddy tells you and never ride without boots with heels.Safty first.

My mother owns two horses, one young arab, and an older quarter horse.

My husband and I raise registered Spotted Saddle Horses. We also have a registered Tennessee Walking horse mare that I plan to show when she gets a little older - most walkers are shown at 8 to 10 years old, when their gait reaches maximum potential. I also have a registered APHA gelding that I run poles, barrels, etc. with. The photo by my name is our SSHBEA registered stallion "Pepper".

I think Arabians are the most beautiful. But I like all breeds.