Welcome to 50 + Horses

If you are a 50 + Horses person you might be like me. I grew up watching Fury and Roy Rogers. I didn't have a horse but every birthday or Christmas that was what I asked for.

If I could put a rope around it, I rode it. Be it a rock, fence, etc. My friends and I were wild horses as we ran through the trails in the woods across from our house. We grazed in our front yards, actually eating grass and survived to laugh about it.

When some poor person was out on a quiet trail ride and came thru the woods onto our road, I was the first one out the door yelling, "A Horse! A Horse! Can I have a ride?!" When they complied I regally rode throughout the neighborhood in front of them and begged for them to take me home with them.

I experienced my first fall from a horse at age 5. I learned that loosely cinched English saddles, hot wire and acres of Raspberry fields don't mix. I cried because I saw blood on my split lip, mom freaked at the angle of my arm. I was quickly rushed to the Doc, didn't get back right on and have had to deal with that fear each time I ride since then.

I spent that summer being a cowboy, riding my rocks and fences with the cast or my arm. Hearing that there was a forest fire in the mountains (about 80 miles from our house) I figured the wild horses would be coming by to escape. I grabbed my trusty rope and spent the whole day at the end of our driveway waiting for them to stampede by. If I couldn't get a horse for Christmas or my birthday, I was going to catch my own.

I wanted to dedicate this blog to those who are 50+ and have that love of horses in the core of their being. Some have been lucky and obtained the major milestone of their lives, having their own horse. Some of us lease, take lessons or just try to be around them when they can. But there is something in all of us that brings us back to them again and again.

As we've gotten older, a new fear has crept into us. We aren't kids anymore and the fear of falling can loom large when one swings their leg over the saddle. How do we overcome that fear? How do we keep our passion alive when we are afraid or our resources are fiscally limited due to the current economy or retirement? How do we ride or maintain our horses during treatment for illness or replacement surgery?

My plans are to touch on these topics as we join together in the challenges we face as 50+horses. Please join me and share your thoughts. Until then, as Roy said, "Happy Trails".