As many of you know, our little Payton has a passion for horses. Really it’s more of an obsession but passion sounds much better.

It all started when she was 5. There was a horse farm near the Chick-fil-a we would go to for lunch and we sometimes would pull over and admire the horses from the car. On one particular day, we had just finished a stint with cheerleading and in the car ride home we were talking about what to sign up for next. I was going on and on about options like soccer, swimming, gymnastics, etc. Just as we were turning into Chick-fil-a, Payton spotted a mama and baby horse at the farm. She said the baby wasn’t there a few days ago and must be new born. So we stopped to take a closer look. As we were admiring from afar in our car, windows rolled down, we were being yelled at by an older gentleman. Just as I proceeded to yell an apology he motioned for us to come to the gate and pull in, so we did. I thought we were about to receive a lecture but instead we were welcomed in and given a tour of the farm and Payton was introduced to many of the residents. I don’t know if I had ever seen this girls eyes so big as when they were introducing her to the horses. We thanked the kind people there for the tour, they offered Payton to come back for a pony ride/lesson another time. As we pulled out, Payton said to me “Mommy, why can’t I do that?”, I said “Do what, baby?”, she said “Ride a horse like that girl?” She caught me off guard a little, I said “Well, I guess I hadn’t thought of it. It’s not really on the ‘Standard Offering list of kid activities’. But if you think you’d like to try it, I think we could work something out.”

Later that day when Daddy got home Payton was a chatter box going on and on about all we saw at the farm and how Mommy said she could ride a horse. A week later, we scheduled a lesson and from the moment she got on that horse Paul and I knew she was exactly where she needed to be. None of us knew before, but this girl was a ‘sleeper’ horse girl! And…the rest is history!

Six years later, here we are still involved with horses. Our horse journey has taken us around many turns from beginner riding lessons to helping get a horse rescue/therapeutic riding group up and running, old horses, new horses, injured horses, death and birth, to now owning our own horse and now a farm to go with it. We’ve had lots of ups & downs in the past with horses and trainers and feel like we’re finally in a good place.

I am excited to see where the next 6 years takes us!