Dark Horse

Hello Darlings...

Well I am just squeaking in with this one...but by my clock I still have an hour to go before midnight

So the other day on Facebook a friend of my dear Daddy's posted a photo of my Daddy on a horse on a magazine cover...some of you may have seen it...

In the photo he is a dusty dirty mess and he is roping a calf and there are beautiful red cattle in the photo.  Daddy has a look of intensity on his face that I often saw when he was working hard at something...

He was a real cowboy

Not a "weekend" cowboy or urban cowboy but the real deal...

Raised on a ranch and put on a horse as soon as he could sit up.  He was pretty much born in the saddle.

And although he was not an elegant rider by any means he could sit a horse pretty damn good.  I'm pretty sure there wasn't a horse born that my Daddy couldn't ride.

He even won world championships in cutting

For those of you unfamiliar with what cutting is I will not pat you on your darling head for not knowing this because cutting is unfamiliar to about 99.9 % of my audience...I would explain it here but I bet Google or wikipedia would do a better job but in a nutshell you get on a horse, cull out a calf and the horse then "works" the calf to separate it ("cut") it form the herd...something like that...it's been a while...

My dad loved being on a horse...it is where he connected with his soul.  When he had a heart attack the doctor didn't really want him to ride anymore (or drive) and my father was so depressed.  I told the doc there was no point in trying to save him if they took his horse and driving away from him and I guess he convinced the doctors he would be ok so he rode and drove until the day he went into the hospital and had his surgery and later died...

When he died his mare went into a depression...we had her at the funeral and I am pretty sure if she could have she would have gone into that grave with him.

For my father being on a horse was where he was most himself.

My siblings rode horses.

My brother won some world championships as did one of my sisters.  She rode very elegantly...and deserved her wins...

I, on the other hand...

do not ride

and I am a terrible rider

Like awful...

There are two things I totally fail at:
Tennis
and
Horseback riding

I fall off

I fall off so much they named me Tinkerbell because when I did fall it was like a little fairy crashing to the ground

I once heard a story that my grandmother used to get tied to her pony when they would go riding because she would fall asleep and fall off...maybe they should have done that to me...

When friends would come to the ranch they all wanted to ride...I was forced to go and hated every second of it...

I dreaded horseback riding at camp...like really really dreaded it.  And if we went on a trail ride I was so miserable I wanted to cry...

One year they had me lead the horseback drill at camp and I think it was because the counselors felt bad for me that my family was known for riding and then there was me....and because I could remember the pattern.

I can't hear Orange Blossom Special or Wabash Cannonball without shuddering (those were the songs we rode to)

I decided to show cattle instead of riding...I was pretty good at it (I did alright...and have the Houston Livestock Show belt buckle to prove it) and I looked great in my cowgirl gear...

Speaking of cowgirl gear...I got a jolt a few years ago when I was at a horse show for the first time in like forever and I got a glimpse of the bling those western pleasure girls were sporting...

wowzers

Back when my sisters showed it was a big deal to have colored chaps...

These girls looked like escapees from the Porter Wagner show (ok gotta pat your darling head if you don't know who he was...google and image)

The bling was blinding...

now that I think about it maybe if all that bling had been in fashion when I was younger I would have decided to show horses instead...at the very least do a halter class where you don't ride but it's basically a beauty pageant for the horse.

My friends DelightfulDebbie and SuperSarah rides horses...but they do so in the English style.  That is a whole other game than cutting and western riding.

English and Hunter Jumper stuff is so very very Hermes and Burberry...again maybe if that had been the fashion I would have tried it...actually it was and the Hermes company began as a workshop for bridles and harnesses and not as a purveyor of $60,000 handbags named after an English actress (Birkin) or an American actress (the Kelly Bag).

See there goes my ADD again and I am off subject and about to write a rant about the woman here who claimed she built her million dollar closet for charity and then went on tv and blabbed about it and then was surprised when she got robbed...

But I digress...

I've watched SuperSarah strut her stuff at horse shows...she rides beautifully and I really enjoyed seeing another side to the whole horse show business when I went to watch her...she always amazed and terrified me...all those jumps...I would have Tinkerbelled to the ground at the first jump...

Don't get me wrong...I love horses...truly truly love horses...like so much so I used to go sit on the graves of some horses that died and were buried at the ranch and would just wail...because I was sad the horse had died...20 years before I was born...

I think they are brilliant and amazing animals.

We had one show horse that was a stallion and if we didn't literally padlock him into his stall he would get out and go open all the stalls of the other mares and fillies around...never the other stallions or geldings...just the girls...

And my sister had one show horse that could be bribed with Dr. Pepper.  Nothing else but DP.  If you offered him a Coke he would turn his nose up at it.  You could put cans of 5 different sodas on a table and he would pick the DP every time...

So yeah...I love horses but just not riding them...

One day I may try riding again...who knows maybe I will stay on the horse...maybe I won't but I do believe I should try...

I believe that you should keep trying at things you have failed at...you have to...it's part of life...and it's in my blood so I should give it another shot.

My kids ride well.  My son never rode until he went to camp and he ended up winning a big award for his riding...he is a natural...

But me...notsomuch

Ok so maybe today you didn't get much out of this than a laugh but that's ok...somedays I want to inspire you and others I just want to entertain you...

So I will leave you now to go and watch the end of "Bachelor in Paradise"...I already feel like I need another bath from watching the first half of that show.  I mean some of those girls are so crazy I can literally hear Ozzie Osbourne screaming "All Aboard" when I look at them...and if you don't know who Ozzie is and what I am referring to I need to pat you on your darling head...

Inspiration Song: "Dark Horse" by my girl Katy Perry...love it...it's not about a horse but then again despite my upbringing neither am I...

Bye darlings...ride a dark horse and not the white one...let's see who gets that reference and who I need to pat on their darling head...kisses!