On a dark, flat land she rides

Today is my mother's 68th birthday!  I thought I would celebrate by sharing some photos of her riding through the years. Here she is, above, at a horse show in York, PA in 1959.  

The slide says that Mom is on "Brownie" in this photo. She looks pretty young here and I don't think she owned Brownie. (I gathered all these photos secretly so I will be sure to get some wrong and believe me I will hear about it!)

I was told that my mom was constantly riding the kitchen barstools when she was little, using belts as reins, so my grandfather finally took her riding in Florida on rental horses. Of course, like many, she was certain she "could ride" after a few rental horse experiences and convinced her parents to buy her Chaplain in 1953 when she was just 10 years old. It was then that my mom's true days of riding and horsemanship began. I tell of Chaplain and his wise ways in this earlier post. 

She really did learn to ride well and she showed in our local Junior Circuit in the Hunter and Jumper classes.  Here she is with some of her ribbons.

These two are of her on her Thoroughbred, Tam.  The one below was taken at our barn in November 1960.

I don't know who she is on here, but I wonder, did she wear the sunglasses in the ring? 

This is at a lesson on the outside course at her trainer's farm in Dover, PA. She is riding Pep Talk.

In 1961, my mom was invited to train with the Mexican Olympic team under the guidance of Col. Humberto Mariles Cortes. She has wonderful photos from that trip, but they are on the walls in her house and I knew she would notice if I took them!  

These two are of her on her Sovey-boy. 

I love this one below of her with her friends.  I did a post about this before.  Her Tam looks so Thoroughbred-y here, I think.  

 I have always liked this picture of her on Prize List on an outside course. I actually posted these two before, here, in the funny story about the elephant.  

Happy Birthday Mom!  Thank you for sharing your passion for horses with me!