A Renegade Cowgirl

Due to our financial situation, we had to cut back on expenses and time, so we sold Tami. It's always sad to end a relationship, but it was for the best at the time. We went through alot of changes...a whole new life was on the horizon.

Lesson #4 – Sometimes the grass is greener on the other side of the fence!

In early ’73 I divorced and moved with my kids to Marshall. I was now a single mom going to college to study Art.

I currently didn't have a horse, but I always seem to find horse people. Soon I was back in the saddle again.These photos are of Scott and Gina getting a lesson on  Irish.

I married my boyfriend of 4 years and had baby Sarah. We didn’t have horses yet, but had a dog, a cat, and several rabbits for pets. As a family, we were quite involved in 4H, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Gymnastics, & Aerobics. We both worked fulltime and had an abundant fruit orchard. I don’t know how we did it!

I was starting to get that itch for my own horse again…I wasn’t riding enough. I saw an ad for an Appaloosa, not a Leopard, like a Quarterhorse with spots! That’s when I found Skip. He was young, quite handsome, very green, and a handful in the beginning.

Sarah and friend on Princess at their first horse show in the Lead Line Class.

Our 10 year stay in Marshall ended with a company transfer. Another new journey is on the horizon!

Lesson #5 – Sometimes we have to make sacrifices

Moving to Duluth was starting over. We didn’t know anybody here yet, so in order to make some new connections, I volunteered for school field trips. Once I met a woman who was the Director of a handicapped riding program. I soon became a volunteer, working with horses and handicapped riders. It really gave me an appreciation for my life and things we take for granted. Watching those children and young adults become free of any limitations by sitting on top of a horse…it was an amazing transformation!

Then through the grapevine, I found out about a pony named Star. She was the sweetest Shetland; broke to drive…and it wasn’t long before my kids were riding.

She was a great little game horse…smart and swift, and she never tired on the long trail rides with the big horses..in fact, she was usually out in front! Sarah became a very good rider with Star.

Well, if you've got one horse in the pasture, you might as well have two, so decided to get another larger pony for Gina. There was a pretty little Welsh-type pony just down the road. She was a beautiful golden color with flaxen mane and tail…Arriba. We all fell in love with her instantly and it wasn’t long before Gina was riding her.

So now we had 2. I could always borrow a horse, but I liked to go on the spur of the moment…just jump on and go…we rode bareback a lot in the winter. There’s nothing like a warm fuzzy horse to keep you warm.

So my husband says, 'Cher, is there supposed to be another horse in the pasture?' I say, 'Yeah'...Just like clockwork, another horse showed up…a nice sorrel gelding named Butch. Anybody could ride him…I’ve always put little kids on him. Above Sarah's feeling very comfortable on a big horse.

There were several girls in the neighborhood that had horses.

I found a part time job at an Arabian horse farm in the area. I enjoyed working with the horses and got quite an education in the Arabian world. I loved the Arab, their dished heads and flash. I had the opportunity to do some horse trading...my steady quarterhorse Butch, for a young, flashy Arabian gelding named Top Secret. He was green broke, very loving and gentle.

This is Top Secret, aka 'Topper', son of Harbit, and a Bask grandson.

In the bottom picture, Gina is riding 'Topper' at a local Dressage show. No pics of me, as I'm

always the one holding the camera.

It wasn't long before Gina was ready for a bigger horse. A friend of mine had a young quarterhorse mare for sale.

One day she was hauling Flowie and the trailer was broad-sided in an intersection. In these worse case scenarios, a horse might panic and cause injury to themselves. The metal of the trailer was pushed in around her and my friend imagined the worst, feeling no movement in the trailer.

When she went to look, there was Flowie, just standing there looking back. This didn’t even phase her; she was calm, even though she had a few cuts and scrapes, was okay.

My friend backed her out of the trailer, took her across the road, and loaded her immediately into another trailer…like nothing ever happened!

Now, this is a great horse! She remained calm through this whole ordeal…this was the horse for Gina!

Lesson #6 - Sometimes things happen for a reason.

We sold Arriba to a young girl in our neighborhood who wanted her first pony.

Changes on the home front required yet another move, so we made the sad decision to let go of the horses and move. Star went to a nice elderly couple who had a cart (she much preferred pulling a cart to being ridden) Flowie went to a girl in 4H who absolutely adored her.

As boarding was too expensive, I had to sell Topper. The transition of becoming ‘horseless’ was traumatic for all of us, and I would remain ‘horseless’ until 1993.

 To be continued…