I had been in love with horses since I was a little girl.  My sisters and I spent time at the pasture across the road where horses were boarded.  We helped each other up on the horses so that we could ride them.  We had our own rodeos by tying nylon stockings around ponies flanks.  I don't know how we survived our child hood.

 

My Mother's Uncle gave us a donkey named Moe.  My Father told us that he would get us a saddle when we learned to ride bareback.  We got pretty good at riding and told our Father that we were ready for a saddle.  He said we did not need one since we knew how to ride bareback.  

 

I have been riding back back ever since.

 

When I was in high School, Johnny Soderberg gave me a mare that no one else wanted because she was so ornery.  I rode her every where almost every day.  I rode her out to the main road for mail which was 6 miles each way.  We even did some moon light rides, just her and I.  Her name was Gracie.

 

After I was married, Gracie had a colt.  He was a beautiful Appaloosa and I named him Dutch.  He nickered every time he saw me.  We had a great relationship, like a couple of kids.  One day when he was almost a year old, he acted like he did not recognize me.  I called CSU and they said he had Encephalitis.  I was devastated.  We doctored him for a week.  I wanted to put him in the corral but the Vet said he might get hurt.  The next morning we found him tangled in the cat tails half dead.  The Vet said  we needed to put him down.  That was it for me.  I did not want to be around any horse.  For twenty years, I would not look at or ride horses.

 

In 1995, I was rear-ended in a car accident.  Being a Professional Belly Dancer and teacher, I was used to being very limber.  I could not even hold my arms up in the air.   I got so depressed that my husband took me to a Paint Horse Auction.

 

This is where Cricket came into my life and changed it forever!

 

 

 

Cindy's Official Parelli Level 3 Certificate