Horses Take Us Places

By Karen Waite

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…it was Facebook. I have a love hate relationship with Facebook, and lately (and by that I mean for the last 5-7 years) it’s been much more hate than love. Between western pleasure, politics, and pandemics, it’s easy to forget why on earth anyone would spend 2 minutes on Facebook. And then it’s your birthday.

This year’s Facebook Birthday Festivities just hit me differently for some reason. I mean, they’re always a good way to remember friends and feel the love, but this year as I scrolled through the well wishes, I was struck by how many people I could connect to horses. Easily 90% and very likely more. Almost every single memory of the person wishing me a Happy Birthday included a horse…and/or experiences related to horses…and most of them were absolutely fantastic, “in real life” memories.

There were people I showed in 4-H with, and folks who supported me in my early days of PHBA and AQHA All-Around shows. There were also people I’ve met during more recent forays into reining and cow horse shows. As a result of my “day job” there were people from around the country and around the world, each connected to a different breed or discipline. Arabian people, Standardbred people, Draft Horse types and more. People who’ve made a career of researching horses and horse health, and people I’ve judged shows with and for. Former horse judging team members who have made life long friendships, and people I’ve just met in the past couple of years.

I was left feeling so very blessed to have a life that was and is full of horses, and in spite of the fact that sometimes “horse people” can be difficult, as I’ve always said, they’re really the best kind of people.

Even during a pandemic, or during the winter when events have slowed down, there’s no question that horses take us places. Even if it’s just in our memories of the past and dreams for the future.