Tuesday, July 28, 2015
Livestock Connection
Sitting on the tarmack at New Orleans airport, I had the opportunity to meet a father and his grown son from North Carolina. You ever strike up a conversation and have an immediate connection?
Yesterday, I experienced that and it was talk of quarter horses. This brought back a lifetime of memories of my younger years – the quarter horses I had, raised, shown and loved. My love for horses extended to my oldest daughter and as she grew….she trained, rode and competed with some of the top equestrian’s in our region riding only buckskin or dun horses. I had bought a gelding out of Sacramento named Dundee who had competed in the World competitions in green horse under saddle and halter. Dundee was a beautiful red dun gelding, built like a tank but graceful and as athletic as they come. I gifted this horse to my daughter, who rode in him everything – English, western, jumping, trail, equitation and halter classes from Oregon, Washington and at the ABRA Worlds in Kansas City, MO.
Those were the days, some very special ones……and yes – those memories will be with me always.
Talking with my plane companions stirred up a lot of emotions that I had buried. But it was fun to talk alpacas to both of these gentlemen. I realized how far I have come, but the foundation of caring for livestock is the same between horses and alpacas.