I’ve wanted a horse for as long as I can remember. My first memory was John F. Kennedy’s funeral. That happened when my family lived in Georgia. I was 2, but I remember seeing these beautiful white horses pulling what looked to me like a wagon. I pestered my mother so much that she told me should would buy me a horse when I turned 16. When I turned 16, she said that since we didn't have a place to keep a horse, she would buy me a car upon graduation from high school instead. When I graduated high school, she said she wanted to be sure I went to college and that she would get me a car after two years of college. She gave me the Volkswagen Beetle that had sat undriven on the side of the house for years. I had to fumigate it, make an ignition key and put it in the shop to get it running. Still, she kept part of her promise.

Even though I never got the horse my mother promised, owning a horse has never been far from my heart, even though I was a city girl. In 2003, after one-too-many times of bouncing around uncontrollably on a trail horse that decided to catch up with the other horses on the trail, I decided that I needed to learn how to ride properly. After a few months of lessons, I decided I needed my own horse so that I could practice and ride whenever I wanted. When I bought my first horse, I couldn’t wait to call my mother.