I have loved horses ever since I can remember.  I had my first Red Hat when I was 4--one of those little felt cowgirl hats with the string to hold it on as we galloped across the countryside on our stick ponies with the plastic heads.  Whenever I was bored, like when we were driving somewhere, I would sit in the back seat of the car, stare out the window, and pretend that I was riding on a horse beside the car.  My mount and I would jump over ditches and anything else that came along, galloping madly and freely, in my imaginary world.  There were other occasions like the time when I was at the dentist, probably around 12 or so, and the Novocain would not numb the tooth all the way.  I rode my mental steed, jumping over each wave of pain as it came.  At 13 when my family went to Canada for a vacation to see Expo ‘67, the only thing I took pictures of were lots of shots of the mounted police horses. In high school, I wrote (and still have) a paper about riding my beautiful, golden palomino into heaven.  And the yellowish-gold, plastic pony with the black mane and tail and the beautiful black western tack was always ready and waiting outside the store to take my money and canter (or gallop, if you pulled back on the reins) for an all-too-short-lived, but exhilarating ride.

As for real horses, I was near my first one when I was about 3 or 4, at a birthday party for the little girl of my dad’s co-worker.  All I remember about that party was the awesome presence of that horse.

My next experience with something other than my fantasy ponies, was when I was 11.  A girl at school invited me to her father’s farm in North Vernon.  They had lots of horses and cows, plus forested land with trails to ride on.  It was cowgirl heaven. My friend was not as horse-crazy as I was but at least she let me dip my feet into the dream of owning my own horse. (I never thought that it was fair that she got to have horses when she really did not care about them half as much as I did.) That lasted for a couple of years until we went to Junior High school.

When I was 15, my family took a trip out to Colorado, to a dude ranch.  My family did not ride horses and we never went on vacations unless it was to Ohio to visit the grandparents, so I never knew why they chose that.  I did not care why really.  All that mattered was that I was once again transported to heaven. In addition to riding every day, I got to go on an overnight trail ride.  Plus I got to participate in a Gym-khana, where I came in 1st and 2nd in a couple of different events.

Around the same time a girlfriend started taking riding lessons in Zionsvill -- about a 45 minute drive for us.  My mom agreed to drive me up there for English riding lessons every week.  (As a mom myself, I now look back on that with much gratitude.)  Then this same girlfriend got to buy a horse.  She asked if she could keep it at my house since we had a fenced in pasture.  (We lived in an old farmhouse that my parents fixed up.)  For boarding him there for free, I got riding privileges whenever I wanted.  This beautiful pinto, named Sunshine Superman, was 11 years old She was probably a little over 14 hands--perfect for learning how to jump on board without a saddle.  He was great!  We rode him bareback and a hackamore.  (Actually, I rode him the most because she could not come over to ride over very often.)  One day she said that she was going to sell him.  She wondered if I wanted to buy him.  I asked my parents and they said yes, I could have him or if I wanted a different horse, they  would buy another one for me.  I decided to get a different horse and ended up buying a horse from the girl’s.  He told my dad that he had the perfect horse for me.  He drove up with this beautiful 15 year old palomino mare named Lady Goldoni, who had been a Shriner’s parade horse.  I was getting closer to the dream (the dream being not only to own my own horse but to ride it in parades and on trails and to go camping with it)!  I only had Lady for about a year when  Eli Lilly transfered my dad to England.

Over the next few years, I went to college and only rode every now and then.  But, every time a horse trailer went by on the road, I craned my neck to see what kind of horses they were hauling.

Finally, when I was in my early 40’s my oldest daughter, who was about 12, wanted to take riding lessons.  I decided to take them with her.  She did not last long but I continued and learned how to jump some.  But then we decided to adopt a little girl from China.  There not being enough money for both our adopted daughter and horses meant that horses had to again be put on hold.  A few years later, I decided it was time to ride again and took dressage lessons, which I loved.  Next thing you know, a friend who has horses, invited me to go to the Hoosier Horse Fair.  I had never heard of it but jumped at the chance to be around horse stuff.  We ran into Queen Jane and she told us about the Red Hats.  I took some information, thinking that even though I would not be able to have my own horse, at least I could be around horses and horse women.  The next day I bought my red cowgirl hat at the HHF and shortly after, I turned in my application to become a charter member of the Red Hats and Purple Chaps.

For my first parade I rode in our very cool RHPC truck.  My second parade, someone loaned me their wonderful horse named Boon.  I was scared to death but we did it and other than a very sore behind (I have since bought a pad), it was fantastic!  The next thing you know I ended up buying this beautiful 6-year old bay quarter horse I named Beau Dancer whom I boarded about 35 minutes away.  With my work, family, and back problems, it ended up not working out and with many tears, I sold him.  I bought another horse, too quickly in my grief over Beau, that ended up not working out.  I sold him and bought my wonderful, big boy named J.R.  He is a 15‚3, 18-year-old, chestnut Tennessee Walker.  We have done parades, trail rides, gone camping and we are currently practicing with the drill team.  I bought a little trailer off of Ebay and am looking to buy a truck sometime soon.