You might be wondering how I got into horses in the first place?Why am I a horse addict. It is in my blood. I remember a photo of me as a two year old on a horse while visiting relatives who were breeding and competing with standardbred horses, in Maryborough Victoria. I always had a special love for horses and dreamed to own one while I was growing up and many friends that I associated with usually owned horses or had family that were into horses that kept my interest in them going through my younger years. I would regularly visit the horse pastures that were situated on the Yarra River banks a short walking distance from where I lived as a young girl...always dreaming that one day I would own some horses. Whenever given the opportunity I would go trail riding with friends who owned horses while a teenager and young adult..of course I knew very little but I just tried to go with the horses movement and try to learn the basics of control of a horse.
Finally when after many years of searching we purchased our own block of rural land that my husband and I dreamed of owning from the time we both met, my husband surprised me one day with my very first horse a grey Anglo Arab we called Missy short for her full name Miss Grey. I remember that day very clearly as Peter's father was very keen for us to own some horses and was there to witness the purchase of our very horse...we acquired through a local horse expert. Missy taught me the day to day responsibilities of owning and riding a horse and I began the long journey of learning the finer points of riding correctly and giving proper leg cues and developing feel for and timing with the horse...but I did not seriously get into horses until we discovered that we could not have children. We tried for many many years, over five years in fact and spent many thousands of dollars with experts to find that we could not have children naturally or otherwise and we learned that we were unable to adopt because of our age, already too late by our mid thirties!...So we made the hard but conscious decision that if we cant have children naturally or assisted then we must have some other purpose and there was a reason for it and it would become apparent over time.
So I threw myself into the horses, showing competing and breeding....I view my horses now as part of my family they are just not farm stock or breeding stock to me they are the reason I get up in the morning to feed them and be with them and to play and ride with them... they have become part of my identity now. I have great difficulty in parting with my horses and get very anxious and selective where they go and try to ensure I have found them good new homes with our youngstock when they are sold or listed for sale...I will not sell my horses to the first person that comes along they have to fit my criteria I have set of the person that will suit the horse that I have for sale...I have on many occassions repurchased horses that I was not happy with their situation or if they did not work out with the new owner. This does not make much financial sense I know but it is the horses long term well being as well as having happy owners that I am more concerned with. I cannot ensure that they all end up in good hands but I sure as heck try and by keeping our numbers small we can have more control of where they go as we are not seriously overstocked and forced to sell to the first person who comes along.
How I ended up with horses and a Ranch in Texas...well that is another story....
