Finally! I am feeling well enough to do something I haven't done for four years. Here are a couple of hints.
A game to play.
Horsey swag bags.
A historic building (1874) with lots of space to use that's being restored by my friend Brooke and her husband Tom. (All photos of the building are by Brooke Sauter.)
Now renamed "The Prairie Victorian," this isn't just any historic building.
It's the Dan Messner building. He built it and owned it along with his family until the 1940s. He also bred, raised, and trained Dan Patch.
This is the barn where Dan Patch was foaled and lived the first six years of his life.
All this horsey history happened in tiny Oxford, Indiana, just nine miles from my home.
So, what's happening? What am I doing after a four year hiatus?
I'm bringing back Happy Trails, my in-home model show and pony party, and Brooke has agreed to let me use the Dan Messner Building for it!
While the restoration of the building is not yet finished, Brooke and Tom have been holding events there since last December.
Like past Happy Trails shows, this one will not be a NAN card show - the intention has always been to gather horsey friends for a day of playing with ponies and having fun together. And, since it's been held in my home in the past, it's always been an invitational pony party. (I'm sticking with that for this year's Happy Trails show.)
Details are still being worked out (including the date for the show) but I am over the moon at the location. To be able to hold Happy Trails in a place that is so important to American horsey history gives me chills.
