Now wait a minute guys, this is going to be very useful for you in the long run.

Okay I’m a long way off from being a “girl” anymore, a “woman” or “lady” is pushing it a little now a days.  A “senile ole bat” works for me.  But don’t tell me I can’t do things.  That’s like waving something red in front of a bull.  The doctor tried that the other day.  Bob is down with his back, so I’ve been doing all the mowing.  Our doctor freaked.  “You can’t do that!”  How many of us like that kind of challenge?  Okay, bring it on!  You just don’t tell a horsewomen they can’t unload grain and hay, mow, use a hammer, saw or whatever.  The men in our lives, if any, aren’t always there, but the destruction that horses create is.  So the doctors next question was, “Well how long do you think you can keep this up?”  “Oh pretty much until I die” was my answer.  So he checked the muscles in my arms and said okay.  Bob told him I can handle the tractor and zero turn just fine.  I know he’s not really used to a horsewoman.  Some men just don’t get that we can handle a thousand pound horse, and anything that goes along with it.  We are not all sitting home watching Soap Operas, or Oprah, and eating Bon Bons.  We are not going to the mall and shop ’til we drop.  (Unless it’s a tack sale.)  And the truth of the matter is we like it this way.

Oh sure we like men, and if they want to put up fencing and do whatever needs doing, we’re fine with that, go out to dinner, you bet.  Just respect us for having a brain, using it, and doing what needs to be done, when we have to.  I know I’m a woman, still mostly blonde, but don’t put me down for that.  Celebrate who we are, capable partners who are not afraid to get our hands dirty.  Working side by side with a man to get whatever needs doing accomplished.

The doctor then asked me what plans I have for the future.  Have I even thought about a time when I can no longer do these things.  I guess I have, a little.  The boys at the feed store will deliver and unload the grain for me.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to sit on a tractor, cut grass and play pole bending with the trees.  I tried to explain to him that there is just no reason to get up in the mornings if there weren’t those happy faces, with ears perked forward waiting for you.  I know I’ve witnessed my older horsewoman friends watch the number of horses in their barns dwindle in number.  I watched where there were no more foals being born in their pastures.  We all do get to that point.  But seriously, do we want to rush it?  Do we just want to quit and say I’m old so I’ll sit in my rocking chair and wait to die.  No Way!  We will do what we can do, while we can do it, and ride quietly into the sunset on our gallant steed.  Even if only in our minds.  We will look younger, feel better, and out do any of those health club yuppies, or whatever they call themselves now a days, any day.  Our horses are our reason, they are our goal, and everything we have to do for them is our purpose in life.  It’s what keeps us going.

There are times we like being treated like a lady, but respect us for all the facets of our lives and personalities.  It makes for a great friendship, and a wonderful marriage.