inspiration is what you are to me

Here is my mom (center) on her Thoroughbred El Capitan (Tam) and her friends at a local horse show in September 1958! The love of Thoroughbreds runs deep in our family. I emailed her another slide of her schooling Tam on our farm in October 1959.

This is what she emailed back:

That picture was taken with poor timing. It should have been shot about half a second earlier. Tam and I look stupid. I am so surprised that he is folded so well with his hind legs. He did not have the best form for a hunter/jumper but I loved him. He was so comfortable to ride and did elementary dressage really well. He was very smooth and sure footed in spite of losing his sight to cataracts. He had a lot of zip and spunk and was a challenge for me to ride. I have a lot of great memories of him. He could really buck, but it was never malicious, just lightheartedness. We had many great years together. I loved to stretch him out at a full gallop around the farm as a finish to our workouts and then I would cool him out on a loose rein and sing to him. He loved that and he was a loner. He never minded going out by himself. That is how the Baja boy was. Only Baja was not as sure footed as Tam.

Can she talk horse, or what? I will never hear the end of it if I don't put up a shot of her looking better over the fence - so here she is schooling Radcliff at a show in August 1958.