More "It's Not Just Me!"

Karen O'Connor is probably the horseperson I would most like to meet. She's my age and has ridden on every US Olympic team since 1986. She values honesty, humility, and integrity, and she takes good care of her horses. Knows her stuff.

The Chronicle of the Horse did an interview with her in the October 8, 2012 issue. This part made me smile:

When I was eleven years old, I bugged my parents for a horse.... (For my birthday) my mom and dad bought a horse for me. I watched a couple of horse things on TV, and decided I wanted to learn to jump. When my mom was out getting groceries or getting her hair done, I'd bring out the tables and chairs and prop mops across them, and I taught myself to jump. When my mom came back early one day, (Sound familiar? Does to me!) she never got mad at me, but she said, "Let's put the furniture back and figure out where we can get you some lessons to learn to jump."

I never took furniture out of the house, but I did set up some ground poles on empty coffee cans and tried jumping in the front pasture. And Leslie and I put our own red and green ribbons in the horses' manes for Christmas rides. We raided the fridge for carrots and apples. And so on.

I wonder how many other horsey girls from my generation, like Karen, like me, all were doing the same crazy things in their pursuit of love for horses?