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GentlewoodFarms
August 3, 2017

Pyrate Legends

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I know the title looks misspelled, but I did it on purpose. Read the little brown journal card and it'll make sense.

I met Erica, my best friend, in 1996 when I was looking for a gentle horse for my older daughter. It's funny how people who become very important to you enter your life...

I had gone to the Horse Management Director for the college I was teaching at and he sent me down to the barn to meet a student who was riding a horse named Luke. Luke was not suitable - in fact, he turned out to be a rank bucker - but I met the girl who had him later that year at a CHA clinic that I was required to attend so that I could be certified to run the equestrian program for the YMCA of Tulsa.

It turned out that Erica was going to be running the equestrian program at the camp "next door" and did not have enough equipment and no budget to purchase any. She had come to the CHA clinic to see if the clinic host had any saddles she could borrow. Diana didn't have any extra to loan, so Erica turned around to leave. On her way out, she recognized the lady who had come to the clinic with me and stopped to say hello and chat. I recognized her as the girl with that "crazy grey gelding" and she remembered me as the lady who could ride a bronc. I had a dozen more saddles than I needed so I offered to loan them to her.

She was extremely grateful and spent a long time looking over my barn and program area when she came to pick up the equipment. She asked a lot of questions and offered some suggestions. I loaned her bridles, saddles, blankets, halters, and anything else that she thought she might need. We talked horses and programming and the college and people we knew in common. It was a business transaction meeting between two professionals, not much more than that.

She called me in the middle of that summer, inviting me to come ride a gelding that she was impressed with and thought needed to be in my camp program. She was right. He was an awesome individual, and I bought him from her lease agent later that fall. He went on to be my younger daughter's horse years later when he retired. I also bought a second horse - one that was her personal favorite - and she adopted him every off season for the rest of his camp life and bought him when HE retired.

Erica returned my equipment at the end of that summer in better shape than I had loaned it to her, which put her in the category of people that I want to know better. One thing led to another, and I started calling her when I needed weekend help. I hired her to run the facility on the other side of town. We went to horse shows together, trail rode together, and even did a road trip to New York to haul a two year old gelding to my business partner. I hauled a four year old stallion down to her for a client who wanted some training put on him and wanted Erica to do it.

She came and lived with me for a year and we had grand adventures showing my yearling stallion all up and down the midwest appaloosa circuit. I went to my first Nationals show with her help and support. She was the world's greatest groom and my number one fan in the stands.

Eventually, after 10 years, we ended up working together for summer camp, and we did that for a few years until her enrollment in veterinary school and my move to OKC made running summer camp impossible for us. The YMCA of Tulsa tried to keep the horse program running after we left, but they couldn't find anyone to do the job that we had created. It was too big for anyone to just take on and maintain... which makes sense because it took us years to build it.

We were the stuff of legends, and we like to say, "we're just that good...." But the truth is, if we are together and we have a project to get done, we split it up, get started, and get it done. We call it working back to back. She's the only person in my life whose work I don't "double check." If Erica did it, it's like I did it myself.

Our first summer together was the first year of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and camp ran a pirate theme that summer. We've made a commitment to see every weekend opening of the series since. It's tradition. And we ARE legends, after all.

Thanks for peeking at my work, and I'd love to hear what you think and any suggestions you have to help me improve!


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