Tacksam
As we close the door on this month of thankfulness and giving thanks, I can't help but take a step back and think about this past year's events. What has been a longing for has finally begun to come to fruition. I've wanted to do more with my horses, especially during these past couple of years. 'Life' has happened and with that, I've longed to ride more, show more, train more, camp more and just maybe get back to the glory days when we had foals year after year.
There is a distinctive one-liner from Dan that comes to mind often. I thought of it many times especially when Jess and I were first entertaining the idea of buying a stud together to now owning one with foals on the way. It was shortly after we were engaged. He told me, "I don't care if you have horses, but you can't bring any mares" (to Silver Bay that was). The thing was, I had 15 horses at the time Dan and I were engaged. Yes, 1-5. I had raised most of them from birth, a couple were ones I bought and if I wasn't showing them, they were being used as trail horses for the trail riding business my younger sister and I had while I was in high school and college. Dan knew me all too well. He knew that if I kept and brought mares, there was a good chance there would be foals one day.
Fast forward to the present day. We have four mares, a stallion and one foal on the way this spring - maybe two, but we'll wait a little while longer before we make that official.
I am 'tacksam' for my great-grandmother Anna who had a love for horses and bought my dad 'Tack.' Fitting that his name means 'thanks' in Swedish. If it weren't for Tack, I may not have the passion for horses that I do today. I am tacksam for the ability to carve out this new adventure on the homestead. For the support of friends and family and their faith in me. But most of all, I am tacksam for Dan not seeing the writing on the wall as I slowly replaced all of my geldings with mares.
