cfdrifter

Horses, horses, horses; all breeds and all disciplines! I enjoy my family and like to dabble in painting and photography.

I'm almost 63 years young, I have been with my hubby Joe for 23 years and we have four daughters; mine are 35 and 31 and his are 29 and 25. He refers to Coalfire (my American Paint Horse) as my "dog" and my dog Bear (128# German Shepherd) as my "horse". I have owned and/or been involved with horses all my life. I owned a Quarter horse stallion (Bueno Dust Up), an Appaloosa mare, Sequoia's Nava Gale, a Thoroughbred gelding, JustInTime4Christmas, and my gelding Coalfire Drifter. I bred my mare twice, once to an Arabian stallion and the second time to an Appaloosa; both foals were imprinted at birth. I personally trained all of my horses and did some showing as well. I lost Justin my thoroughbred to EPM in 2002; EPM was incurable at the time and many fine horses fell victim to it. My youngest daughter bought Coalfire for me as a yearling and he's been with me ever since. In 1973 I was at an open horse show in Redding, California the day of the Belmont Stakes. The entire show shut down so that all of us, entrants and spectators could watch Secretariat run. You could have heard a pin drop as we watched him make his incredible run for the finish line. The whole place erupted when he won ~ it's an incredible memory. I feel so privileged to have seen three Triple Crown Winners in my lifetime; Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed. I hope and pray that everyone who has never seen this will see one soon; I can't begin to describe the feeling you have when you see them win it all. I am fascinated with genetics and bloodlines in all breeds. It is challenging to try to figure out what "nick" will work between a stallion and mare to create a real superhorse. They are few and far between. One of my favorite verses in the Bible is Job 39:19-25 "Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible. He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He goes out to meet the weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; and he does not turn back from the sword. The quiver rattles against him; the flashing spear and the javelin. With shaking rage he races over the ground; and he does not not still at the voice of the trumpet. As often as the trumpet sounds he says, "Aha!" and he scents the battle from afar, and thunder of the captains, and the war cry." For me, this game isn't about winning money it's about finding that perfect "nick" and I'm looking forward to the challenge. I was diagnosed with a heart condition and can no longer work outside of the home so I work in my stable instead!