Thursday, February 11, 2010

Peggy - The horse that taught me to ride


I started riding horses when I was nearly 7 years old. That might be late for some of the Kentucky riders but growing up in MA (not the land of horses) it was an early age. As a young kid I wanted everything in my life to revolve around horses. My books, stuffed animals, movies, shirts, you name it- had to all be about horses. I was horse crazy. Still am...

My parents finally gave into my obsession of horses and found a local barn that offered lessons. The name of the barn was Sunny Croft Farms and it was right over the border in Thompson, CT. I still remember the day we went to see the barn for the first time. I had carrots and apples lined in my pockets ready to persuade any horse for their affection. Sadly... I still do this today. Some habits never die. The barn seemed like such a magical place. The smell of horses in the air was sweeter then any perfume money could buy. I never get tired of that scent, something about the smell of a barn energizes my soul.

Meet Peggy. She was the horse who taught me how to ride. The images above were taken at my first riding lesson back in 1981. I had the choice to learn basic english riding or western. That was an easy decision since I wanted to be a cowgirl. For the entire seven years I rode at that barn I think I sat upon an english saddle only once. It wasn't until I was 21 that I learned to ride in an english saddle. It was at that age that I discovered my love for jumping. More on that later. Back to Peggy the horse. She was a patient mare. She was the horse that almost every new comer to the barn learned to ride on. She was sure footed and trusted to take care of all of her riders. She did just that. I didn't ride Peggy all that long, within my first year I moved on to younger and faster horses. Peggy retired some years later and was sold to a family where she could live out her years just being a horse.

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