01/06/2024
I didn’t really stand a chance.
They say you are shaped 50% by your genetics and 50% by your environment.
I was going to be a horse lover.
Some of my earliest pictures are of me horseback in front of my Mom or Dad in the mountains of Central Oregon. As a matter of fact, I’m not sure it wasn’t my Dad’s cowboy hat that got mom’s attention even before she saw his dimples and that smile, way back in 1965…
Momma was an avid horse lover as far back as she can remember but growing up in small town Fort Wayne, Indiana in the 1940’s and 50’s she had to really campaign to get her first horse.
It took her until she was 15 when they bought and moved out to her grandparents farm. Her grandpa helped her find a little bay named Charley and someone came up with the $125 for him. And so it began.
Years later after finishing college her first order of business was to follow her dream and move West to Oregon so she could pursue her medical career somewhere where she could ride horses on ranches around cowboys.
It didn’t take her long before she caught the eye of a handsome, somewhat mischievous cowboy who happened to own Oscar the winning turtle in a Portland Oregon bar’s local turtle race. (But that’s another story) 😉
Mom’s love of horses and Dad’s love of mom eventually found them moving over to Central Oregon where they could ride and camp for days in the wilderness of the Cascade Mountains.
My arrival didn’t slow them down any and from the stories and looks of it they just packed me along in front at first, then behind them until I was finally old enough to ride on my own and they had my little brother to pack instead.
Mom loved anything with horses. She not only rode and camped in those mountains with Dad but also found every opportunity to ride the trails with her girlfriends, with me and even sometimes on her own. She found a few friend’s ranches we could help each spring and summer, and she hauled me to a million hours of 4 H lessons, club meetings, horse shows, and then hours more of jumping, dressage and eventually cutting and reining lessons and shows.
It wasn’t just our summers full of horses, it was year around, and she gained quite a collection of horses from time to time, including a season of adopting several rescue ponies and horses that needed last resort homes. To this day she still has two old timers she goes out and feeds daily.
So it was heart breaking to us but devastating to her when, after a couple of bad wrecks and her umpteenth back and neck surgery, her doctor told her no more riding. Ever.
For a dozen years or more (and even with the purchase of a new young horse) mom never gave up hope of riding again even though walking without her walker is now a struggle sometimes.
This past month while in New Mexico we got to make that dream come true for her in a small way thanks to our good horse Jack, our friend Pastor Chuck’s mounting block, and the presence of 3 strong boys for spotters and Bobby West.
At 82 years old Momma got back in the saddle again. And oh what fun we had that cold December day!
Love you Momma!
Kelly Lyster Denver Crowder Calvin Hampton Bobby West Clearview Ranch R.W. Hampton Be-YOU-tiful Living
