“Horses are an addiction.”
“No, horses are a sickness” was the contradiction.
One or the other, there are people who have lifelong fascination for horses, taking prejudice over most other things.
We are one of them, and many of our acquaintances have same interests. It’s inbred; our parents had strong attraction for horses, and the enthrallment carried into our immediate blood- family, as all have horseflesh charisma.
Never really lacking anything essential as a town kid, we always wanted a horse. It was an uncontrollable desire indicative by cowboy boots and holstered-pistol incessantly while riding the broom for a horse.
Finally, pleading paid off when our parents bought two-acres in town, and got us our first real horse. Our dream came true, and life changed to the better forever.
This came to mind as we reminisced about involvement in a horse show group. As an 11-year-old when we got Spot, we instantly wanted to join the saddle club to ride in “shodeos.”
Of course, we didn’t have a trailer, so we could only enter hometown shows the first year. When the Eastern Kansas Horseman’s Association (EKHA) was formed the next year, an old cowboy asked if we’d like to go with him to an out-of-town show, too.
That made our year, and we soon convinced our parents to get a horse trailer. We’ve continued riding in EKHA events, off-and-on, ever since.
From the time our children could set in the saddle, we went to a horse show most-every summer weekend for 15 years.
Although we hadn’t competed much in the last two decades, when an EKHA division was initiated for old folks, we came out of horse show retirement this year for old time sake.
Thus, we’re the only EKHA member who rode in the first year and the 50th year of the association. Serving as association president during the silver anniversary, we collected a handful of highpoint division awards through the years.
Credit must go to the horses who made this possible: Spot, Nellie, Candy (ugh), Quicksand, Dennis, Hug, Nugget, Missy, Ambrose, The Wonderful Zane, and others borrowed from family.
Reminds us of Judges 5:22: “The horses’ hoofs beat loudly because of the galloping valiant riders.” Most importantly, John 11:4: “This sickness is not fatal. It will become an occasion to show glory.”
+++ALLELUIA+++