The Beginning

Me, a horse trainer? Yes, I am! But, I'm a gamma, I mean grandma, so how did this happen? To find out, let's go back to:

The Beginning

Horse Crazy Kid? Yes, I was!

My parents finally gave in to all my begging and pleading and bought me a horse when I was eleven.

He was part of the family for almost a year before he was traded in for a Honda 50 motorcycle. They said he was too dangerous. Must have been when he ran away with my dad (big mistake) and then proceeded to run away with me once too often.

I loved that little motorcycle. It was definitely a boy attractant. But I never quit being horse crazy.

I continued to watch every TV show I could that had a horse in it, and every movie.

I read books, horse stories, and books on taking care of horses, books on riding, books on training.

One of my cousins had a horse. I rode with her. I rode with another cousin at a riding stable. My neighbors bought a horse. They let me ride their horse. Another neighbor had a horse, I hung out at the barn with her and her horse.

One of my best friends in high school had a horse. Let me make this straight, she was my friend before I knew she had a horse. She let me ride her horse. The very same horse she rode as rodeo queen in our local rodeo. Wow!

After I grew up and moved away from home I was still around horses every chance I got.

Once I even stood a guy up for a date to attend a horse show. The morning of the day of our date I found out there was a horse show going on very near by. I went to the horse show and didn't make it home in time to get ready for the date. I showed up in the parking lot in time to tell him, sorry, I wasn't going to make the date. There were still horse events going on. He never called me again. Oh, well.

I took riding lessons. I rode at riding stables. Once I had kids, I even dragged them to riding lessons and horse shows.

I became a 4-H horse program leader even though I didn't own a horse.

My big break came with my second marriage. It all started on a blind date. We both had to eat, right?

It didn't take long to find out he also had a desire to own a horse. He may not have been able to spend the time I had learning about them and being with them, but he had a desire to have one. Let me make this straight, I fell in love with him before I knew how strong his desire was for a horse.

In the summer of 1995, we were able to buy two horses of our own. By then the kids from our first marriages (a daughter and son for me, a son and daughter for him) were almost teenagers. We had hoped this would be a family thing. They had an interest in the horses, but by then had found other things more interesting to them. So it was usually just my husband (hubby honey) and I, riding the horses. Which was probably a good thing.

We had to board the horses, but spent as much time as possible with them. We kept thinking if we could only find a place and have them at home, we would be able to spend more time and work through some of the problems we were having. But property in our area, Salem, Oregon, was way expensive.

We had visited Reno, Nevada, a couple times in the past, and were headed there again on a mini vacation. By mistake (not really a mistake) we picked up a local real estate magazine.

Before we were back on the plane and headed home, we were the proud owners of ten acres. Ten acres in a rural area. Our closest neighbor was three quarters of a mile away. Property on the slope of a hill with southern exposure with a wide open view.

We figured with good planning we could move in seven years. Then, as if by magic, my husband's company decided to open a branch in Reno.

So, guess what? Before we could blink, we were packed and on our way to Reno. Seven years had turned into less than seven months. Amazing how strong that desire for a country life can be.

But then guess what? We were on our property, but no house, no water, no electricity. We had purchased a twenty-five foot travel trailer to live in while we built our house. Guess what? We did it! Well, sort of. We lived in the travel trailer until the house was livable. Livable, by no means, meant complete. That's another story.

The house still isn't complete, but we have our place in the country and have our horses.

So, how did I become a horse trainer? A horse training gamma (grandma)?

Well, we now had our horses at our place. We got to spend lots of time with them. But, guess what? We were still having problems, especially with my husband's horse. We kept looking for answers. We bought two more horses, thinking that would solve the problems. It had to be the horses, not us, right!? That didn't help either. Now we had two new horses with new problems.

That's when we found videos. Natural horsemanship videos. Videos by Monty Roberts, Richard Shrake, Clinton Anderson, Pat and Linda Parelli, Chris Cox, Dennis Reis, Bryan Neubert, and others. We watched, and rewatched. We learned new and different ways to communicate with our horses. Things were getting better. But there was still something missing in the understanding.

Then we met a lady named, Joyce Gay.

She is Clinton Anderson, the Parelli's, and a bunch of other clinician's all rolled into one. Her one-on-one, hand's on training, turned our horse lives around. Things finally started to click.

That is why I am a horse trainer. A real life, ground work queen. My husband's expression. That's how I had the confidence to take a new born foal (Bear) from his first human touch to his first ride in the saddle, and an eighteen month old filly (Cookee) from never being handled by a human to her first ride. That is why I have the confidence to feel I can take a mustang mare (Goldee) with very little previous handling and turn her into a ridable horse.

Yes, I had some horse experience, but it wasn't until I learned natural horse methods, especially those taught by Joyce, that I was able to develop a relationship with my horse(s).

Just don't ask me to ride.

Landing on my head and having a concussion which left me dizzy for five months (no, I'm not a total blond, it was the concussion), then coming off my favored Cookee and tweaking a rib that hurt for over two months has left me with an impression in my mind creating a huge fear factor regarding riding. (In both these cases, it was not the horses fault.) Yes, I managed a couple first rides on two young horses, but that was after many, many hours of working on a relationship and a building of trust. A trust not only of the horse in me, but also of me in the horse.

I have worked with quite a few good people since in trying to overcome my fear factor. Age can be a true B___! My mind knows the ground is a lot harder now than it used to be. I'm still working on it. I have to ride! I've spent way too many hours on this dream of a horse life to have it fall apart now.

There are a lot of stories out there about many, many people just like me and my husband. Those of us with a dream about a life in the country with our animals and the outdoors, but especially our horses.

Many people just starting that dream at middle age or beyond.

Some who have started, but then when problems with either the horse or some internal fear that won't shutup, get ambushed on their way to completion of this dream.

If any part of this is your reality, or even if it's still only a dream, I would love to hear from you.

I'm a horse training gamma (grandma) and I love to talk horse.