Then, as it was, then again it will be

My grandfather was born today in 1917. In the late 1950's he found a 45 acre farm (above) which at the time seemed "way out in the boonies" but now is surrounded by sprawling Suburbia. He always said it was because of mom's horses that he even considered buying a farm, and for that he was grateful because he loved his farm. Most summer evenings you could see him on the tractor, wearing his pith helmet, pulling the bush-hog to make us new bridle paths. Once, a neighbor told me that she thought my grandfather made the most beautiful network of trails. That was the architect in him. Here (below) is our farm in the 1980's, with my grandparents on the tennis court and our two horses turned out.

Today I worked on the very same trails as my grandfather did many years ago. He passed away in 1990 and our trails haven't been the same. I don't have a bush-hog - only a saw and some trimmers. Still, it was like working in his shadow, especially today on his birthday. I have to look for that pith helmet.

inspiration is what you are to me

Here is my mom (center) on her Thoroughbred El Capitan (Tam) and her friends at a local horse show in September 1958! The love of Thoroughbreds runs deep in our family. I emailed her another slide of her schooling Tam on our farm in October 1959.

This is what she emailed back:

That picture was taken with poor timing. It should have been shot about half a second earlier. Tam and I look stupid. I am so surprised that he is folded so well with his hind legs. He did not have the best form for a hunter/jumper but I loved him. He was so comfortable to ride and did elementary dressage really well. He was very smooth and sure footed in spite of losing his sight to cataracts. He had a lot of zip and spunk and was a challenge for me to ride. I have a lot of great memories of him. He could really buck, but it was never malicious, just lightheartedness. We had many great years together. I loved to stretch him out at a full gallop around the farm as a finish to our workouts and then I would cool him out on a loose rein and sing to him. He loved that and he was a loner. He never minded going out by himself. That is how the Baja boy was. Only Baja was not as sure footed as Tam.

Can she talk horse, or what? I will never hear the end of it if I don't put up a shot of her looking better over the fence - so here she is schooling Radcliff at a show in August 1958.

a new sign

The snow is perfect for helping me to make new trails. Our woods are so thick in spring and summer with Honeysuckle vines and wild Roses and all our lovely brambles. Now, with the snow, I can clearly see in the woods where the new paths should be forged. I am going to work the next two weeks on opening some of these new bridle paths. Our far fences are finally in place which makes the entire 40 acres more contained. We had to let the eastern part of our trail grow shut at one time to keep the motor bikes out. (Hilariously, our farm borders the neighborhood where Bret Michaels grew up and I've heard rumors that he was one of the dirt bikers in our woods!) Now that it is fenced on the far border we can re-open that path! 

This past summer, I was riding Baja bareback over in that section and a neighbor had left apples out for him to eat. Of course, I had his bitless bridle on so apple eating was no problem! I got off to help him "organize" the apples (in other words, to keep him from gobbling them too fast!) and then I couldn't get back on! We walked through that closed section of the woods like two explorers looking for gold (only we were looking for a mounting block!) He walked beside me just as happy and calm as any dog or human companion. It was easy to forget that I had a huge, refined, Thoroughbred horse by my side. What a special friend and summer memory of the Baja-boy!