Welcome New Sisters! (click for current roster)
Merit Badge Awardees (click for latest awards)
My featured Merit Badge Awardee of the Week is … Patty Byrd!!!
Patty Byrd (thebyrdhaus, #1840) has received a certificate of achievement in Garden Gate for earning a Beginner Level Horse Dreams Merit Badge!
“I have always loved horses. I was raised on a farm, and when I was a child, our family was very interested in horses. We all were involved in a saddle club and showed horses. Our family had a horse (Princess) that would come up to the barnyard fence, and at 3 and 4 yrs old, my sis and I would crawl over the fence onto her back. She would pace around and around the fence with us on her, until we grew tired. We lived in a very small farming community. I was about 13 years old when I went to our local bank and asked the banker for a loan to buy a horse. I paid $375 for a Tennessee Walker and a saddle.
Little banks back in the day did not require corporate decisions to grant loans, though I am sure the banker had an OK from my parents. He gave me the loan and I paid it back, $50 a month, with babysitting money. I had “Fireball” until he had to be buried. I was married with children at this point. My favorite breed is a Tennessee Walker. They have such a beautiful gait. They are a smooth ride, the Cadillac of horses. My family is still very much involved in horses and typically have Quarter Horses. I get to “meet” them up close and personal often.
I venture to the All-American Quarter Horse Congress each fall here in Columbus. Horses are in my blood. I love the smell of a horse. The photo I have attached is one of my dad and his horse, “Buck.” I love this photo of my 75-year-old father.”
Patty, I resonate with your story! Horses were my passion as a young girl, and although I never had the privilege of owning one, I cleaned stalls and did farm chores to pay for lessons and horse show expenses. When my girls were early teenagers, they had the same love so we purchased them each a horse and I had the chance to relive my childhood. My oldest daughter’s horse, Bertie, is still with us at age 31. I know what you mean when you say horses just get in your blood!
I grew up in horse country and everyone rode, except me because my very old world parent didn’t think it was a ladylike thing to do ( think side saddle versus regular saddle if you get my drift ).I was 7 and just decided to do it on my own anyway. I made my own halter and snuck out predawn every morning and went to the neighbors paddock and rode her horses bareback. Unbeknownst to her or anyone else.
I decided since all the girls I knew were now graduating to ” jumping” ( this was English style riding where I grew up ) I should too. Well, the horse stopped dead at the jump and I went flying. Amazingly I wasn’t really hurt but I was pretty banged up. I had to hide my bruised and battered body from my Mom. Then I got ” busted” by my mint julep swilling elderly neighbor who complained I stomped through her mint patch every morning at dawn.
I never got to ride again. At least not until adulthood.
Patty,
Congrats! What a wonderful story and picture. I bet there’s not a bank around anymore that will give a loan to a 13 year old 🙂 How very lucky you were.