There Is Nothing That My Big Girls Can't Do

I imagine that there are many contexts in which young ladies would be offended by being referred to simply as "big girls." The horse lot is not one of those places. Everyone has a role at the horse lot and every participant matters--but there would be no horse lot with out my big girls.

Most, but not all, of my big girls began riding with me when they were kids. They were the earliest ones to understand what we are doing here. From Katie who about eight years ago looked over our weeds and dusts and wild horses and said, "some day this place is going to be famous", to Rebecca who insisted that I continue to spend money and think bigger in terms of infrastructure development and increasing herd size, to Lydia who reminds everyone that the "people matter more than the horses" to Jen, a professional farrier who turns trimming job into works of art, to Abigail, who though only fourteen, takes on every task with the calm competence of a thirty year old, to Chloe,who provides helpful instruction to the newer riders without even a tinge of haughtiness or condescension, to two wonderful Ashleys whose quick insight in to what I can do and what I should do often have taken me off of the horns of a dilemma with crisp, clear instantaneous analysis.

All first rate horse trainers and first rate people, who coupled with a handful of older adults. make coming to the horse lot worth the trip.

And to Elise whose near constant refrain of, "oh, we can take care of that" keeps things looking positive. She understands the need that I have to unwind and she understands that playing music is about the only thing that really does that.

Yesterday I asked her to take on a huge task--to assist me in gathering and classifying my writings over the past decade as background research for the book that I am currently writing. This is a big job. She readily agreed.

Can't think of anyone that I would rather have doing it.