After my first indelible ride at the Blue Hills Riding Stable I had no other opportunities to ride a horse for quite some time. I finished high school and went off to college. And, completely as a bonus, that is where I got my second chance to ride.

In those days the University of Massachusetts was considered an agricultural school. And right there on campus was a barn loaded with horses. I was in luck! Naturally I had to check it out and what I found was a stable full of the most beautiful horses I had ever seen. There was no comparison to the Blue Hills Riding Stable horses. (No offense to hack horses) These were fine animals, pure bred Morgans that were being bred right there on campus. And to top it all off there was a riding club which anyone could join. Which I quickly did. What a gift, second time, heaven sent.

I had experience, right? I had ridden. I was later to find out that I was what one called "unconscious incompetant" on the learning curve. Hey, no matter, I was there, I was being offered the chance to ride and it was FREE! What could be better? I was joining the ranks of the horse world. Life was good. But I was totally clueless and I didn't even know it-- that's the unconscious part. So let me get on with my riding.

First day out was a disaster. I remember the mare that I rode was very shiny and she had recently foaled, so probalby hadn't been ridden in quite some time. No problem for me. I was a rider. And I was young, nothing bothered me. Off we went for a little stroll. We walked a bit and that was pretty boring, so we stepped up the pace into the trot. And I am thinking, this does not feel like the horses at the Blue Hills Riding Stable and the next thing I know, I am on the ground. That is when the girl I was with confirmed her doubts about my experience.

But for me, no problem, I hop back up and we ride off again, with me firmly planted in the saddle this time. We rode around a bit more and I was finally getting used to all the bouncing, which later I learned was called posting. It seemed pretty straight forward, up, down, up, down. (with the emphasis on down)

OK, so I am not the best rider, I still had a good time. In fact, it was such a good time that I suggested we come back in the afternoon for another ride. This time I was determined to stay on and not make a fool of myself, but it was not to be. It seems that the necks of those beautiful animals were extremely slippery. (Maybe it was because they were groomed. perhaps?) And I just did not quite have the knack of it so off I went again.

No problem, I still was not daunted, the ground accepted me very willingly and the horse just stood there as I took my second tumble. Back up again, as I thought to myself, at least I am learning how to mount up from the ground.

So for a little change of scenery we found ourselves on the newly groomed baseball diamond and thought it would be fun to run the bases. Oh, big mistake, because we left telltale tracks that only we could have made. Not good. As a result I was asked to drop out of my new most favorite club and to forget about riding for awhile.

What are you waiting for?

Have you ever run like a horse?

I remember as a little girl running like a horse on my way to school and I often wondered why. Not then, of course, only in recent years has this question begged an answer. And this is the reason I have started my blog. I seriously believe there is a horse gene. For those of you reading this blog who have "it" you will understand. For all the others, don't go any further, this won't make any sense to you....

I used to dream about having a horse of my very own.
(Have you ever yearned for something you thought was unattainable? I am telling you to keep on dreaming.) But I came from a very large family and riding a horse, let alone owning one, was out of the question. So the next closest thing I could do was to draw horses. I got a book from the library and started to draw, and draw and draw. And plaster the pictures all over my bedroom walls. I wanted a horse so bad I even dreamt about them.

I never even sat on a horse until I was a teenager. I convinced some of my friends to go for a ride at the Blue Hills Riding Stable in Milton, Massachusetts and using my own hard earned baby sitting money took my very first ride. I enjoyed every minute of that ride. I was in heaven. Little did I know how life altering that first ride would be. Who knew where I was headed with that first ride?

Fast forward fifty years . Today I am a horse owner, no I don't just own one horse but over twenty! (I somehow am not able to do things in a small way.) And have a riding school teaching the sport that I love to children and adults. I like to think that I am fulfilling their dreams and getting them on the road to bigger things.

My husband and I own a horse farm in New Jersey in one of the remaining semi-rural counties of the state. In fact, the horse is the state animal even though we are more known for oil refineries and are the most populous state in the country. But where we are located there are many horses. Our part of the world is often referred to as "horse country". Two minutes away from the farm and we are in the woods with not a car or a house in sight. Just the quiet of the woods, maybe a squirrel or a rabbit hopping across the trail, a canopy of mixed trees above and lots and lots of ferns on the forest floor. Just me and my horse, running through the woods. It is a world apart from the busy life with which most of our neighbors are involved. It's a wonderful life.

My other reason for writing a blog is that I am worried that our lifestyle will not be here in the future and I wanted to record a year in our life so others could vicariously be a part of this dying lifestyle. Maybe you will help to perpetuate it somehow?

I will fill you in on how we started our business and keep you posted with the day to day activities, the horse stories, some of the wonderful people that we have met, the trials and the labor, and the not so glamourous, down right dirty jobs that are involved with our horse world. Hopefully it will be somewhat fascinating, a bit entertaining and perhaps eye opening but always encouraging for you and your dreams. If you too dream of horses, maybe you have the horse gene. Don't let it be dormant, go make your dreams come true. If I did, so could you. Here's how it all happened.