Our History in Photos!

These photos were sent to me via facebook about a week ago by one of my mother's former riding students Robin. Thank you Robin for sending this great old photos that vary in age from 1974-1981. Above is a photo of Robin on Ebony. For some reason there were a bunch of photos taken of me personally. I must have attracted attention as the smallest student in the riding school.


This picture shows me (Charlotte) at about age three in my normal horseshow outfit. Mother always tried to dress me in red because I was easy to see if I got away from her at the horse show. This particular sweater was crocheted for me by my Mema Schott. I remember it very well and wonder what ever happened to it. I think this picture was taken in our barn in front of one of the stalls. The timbers are new and haven't even turned the darker color that I remember them as. Later we redid the stalls.


This is a picture of me in 1975 riding my pony Chocolate (Chocky). We are at a horseshow at Hi Acres you can see their hunter ring in the background behind me. Mother used to take me to the horse shows with Chocky and then I could ride her all day. We still have this little Western saddle. It was great for me to use because I could always grab the saddle horn in an emergency. Also mother could not find an English saddle that fit Chocky. So she modified the Western saddle (she removed the fenders so that I could have my leg closer to the pony). I "learned to ride English in a western saddle." That saddle was great because it had those stirupp covers on the stirups so I was not at risk for getting my foot caught in the stirup and being dragged by the pony. Even at a time when many riders did not wear riding helmet mother always insisted that I wear mine when I rode. Considering how many headaches I have gotten after falling off horses over the years its possible that the riding helmet rule kept my brains in good enough order to manage to do my school work as I grew up.

This is a photo taken around 1976 of me with my puppy, Curly Ears. She may have been a Cockapoo. She was the only dog that was ever allowed to sleep on the floor next to my bed. The sad thing is I really do not remember her. I am sitting on a coop jump that was in the field below the ring (now the Dressage ring) we did not know what Dressage was back then ( except for knowing about the Lipizzaners who did beautiful dancing). I think my Grandmother must have been visiting because I cannot imagine having that dress on otherwise.


Speaking of Dressage here is the only picture of me in a Dressage show in this collection. Since Robin stopped riding here in about 1976 I think this photo must have been taken when she came for a visit in 1981. This is Sweet Valentine she was my "good pony". Notice her coloring at that time she was about 6 years old and she had a dark mane and tale. Her color was buckskin. Now at age 35 she is WHITE! Notice my trademark position in the saddle from looking at these photos it looks to me like I've been doing that pose since I was 4 years old. I do not know who the girl standing behind Valentine is. By the way notice I have my hunt coat, boots and breeches on and my pony is BRAIDED. Braiding Valentine was very difficult because she used to be head shy. I think she was head shy because she always wore a cribbing strap and she hated it. We finally gave up on the strap because she could crib anyway. Now she does not have to wear it ever.

This picture represents a big transition in our riding program. These two lovely ladies are Thoroughbred mares. This was the second Thoroughbred foal we ever raised. Their names are Strawpump Nancy (the mother) and Early Nancy Dancer was the filly. Earlier in our history we mostly had an Arabian (see the story of Gusty Wind), a Morgan cross mare (Honey), and some other Quarter Horse and Appaloosa types. From this point on Mother preferred Throughbreds. We bred and raised many Throughbreds. Later we also bred a couple of Throughbred mares to Hannoverian Stallions (resulting is Mischief and Long Legs) and some other combinations. However mother to this day prefers THROUGHBREDS!




This is Strawpump Jackie she was a sister to Strawpump Nancy.

Here is a photo of a bunch of riding students waiting for their turns to go in the horse show. The horse on the left is "Grey" and the guy behind him is my Dad and although we can't see the horse I think he is on Cocomo. Mother is holding Ebony and Robin is pointing towards the ring, and our Quarter Horse Cat aka "Cat's Troubles" is in the far right of the photo. This was taken in 1974.

Here is a picture of Vicky Barnes jumping Cocomo.