I have always wished that I had more siblings. Goodness, don't get me wrong, I am thankful for and dearly love having Paint Girl, my one and only rodeo queen sister. And we are lucky to share a common love for horses. But still, I wanted more sisters, and even a brother or two.
Well, it's too late for that. But one thing I do have is a lot of cousins. My mom is one of three sisters, and I have their daughters as my first cousins. And all of my mom's cousin's daughters as my second cousins. When you put this group of ladies together, you have what we call the "cuzettes." Even though we have all known each other since we were little tots, the cuzettes have been bonding increasingly over the past year, particularly over horses and riding. And we have other non-horsey cuzettes that are yet to join our little club, we just need to formulate our conversion plan.
Although a couple of my second cousins own horses, only one of my cuzettes actually owns a horse. However, the rest of them have all shown an interest in riding. They have taken lessons recently, and bought cowgirl boots and western shirts. They rode borrowed horses in our rodeo and galloped home faster than I did! I was very impressed with their gumption and confidence around horses. Even though they may never purchase a horse of their own, being part of this family of horsewomen has become important to them. They may not know it, but it means everything to the rest of us, to be able to share this world of ours with them. On our recent trip, they eagerly offered to help groom, saddle, feed, water, scoop poop.....I don't know how many times I asked a cuzette to hold my horse for me. The trip would not have been the same without our horseless helpers!
As the cuzettes and I begin to plan a weekend gathering of our own this fall, I have come to realize that I am indeed blessed with the bigger family and all of the extra "sisters" that I always wanted.
How big is your family? How many people in your family own or ride horses as well?
P.S. I miss my horse. He is getting a mini-vacation this week as I am back at school setting up my classroom. I will get to see him on Saturday! Woo hoo!
True 'dat. I always wanted a little sister, and while I still don't have that, I have a bunch of older ones! It's kind of fun to be the youngin'. Well, I guess Jamie is sort of like a little sister...follows me around everywhere...wants to be just like me...you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteI was about to write you an email and say, "Uh, Pony Girl, where is my daily blog?? I hope this 'job' you insist on going to everyday isn't going to get in the way of my reading enjoyment!" But sure enough, you came through!!
There are four of us girls in my family...three of us persued horses. At present, we have just one among all of us (we range in age from 60 to 50)...but at other times, we've all had horses. I don't have kids but these sisters' kids learned to ride and one competed in dressage and is still riding. My older sister still rides...and I shall ride again. My mother rode, she insisted we live somewhere we could have horses growing up, and we did...my uncle (her brother) rode and my grandfather was known as quite a horseman and livestock man. I have a wonderful picture of my grandmother on her horse, riding sidesaddle, growing up (probably about 1905!). As a family, we have been all about horses, at different times, for four generations. It's cool. It's a wonderful thing to share, as you write in your recent post.
ReplyDeleteLone horse nut here. My mom was a horse crazy girl, but never got to fulfill any of that and now she is way past even being able to. I honestly think the horses kinda scare her now. My non-relational girlfriends are awesome substitutes, though. And they are better than gold! Paddock Boy wants to ride, and so does the Little Buckaroo, but we don’t have hosses for them yet. Working on that!
ReplyDeleteI always thought it would be cool to have a little sister instead of being the little sister or having an older brother. But I am happy with having an older sis. :)
ReplyDeleteI am also glad that my sis and I have horses in common. We grew up that way as you all have read about in the posts and than being out of horses for so long my sis and I didn't really have much in common. I am very excited that she finally decided that this is what she wants to do with her life and to share it with eachother again has been truly amazing.
A few years ago I couldn't even get her to ride Brandy! Ok, that could be because of Brandy's "craziness" at the time. She did come help me out with Brandy after I had knee surgery and I couldn't ride for 6 months.
Oooh! You are so blessed to have such a big family with all those aunts and cousins.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful cowgirls, too.
I'm an Only-Child and my extended family is very small, as well.
None of them ride horses.
I'm the only one.
See how lucky you are? :)
Oldest of 5 children and the only girl. It was a tough place to be. I was the trailblazer. I wanted a little sis right up until the last child was expected. By that time (age 10) I realized that I'd be sharing my room and was rooting for another brother.
ReplyDeleteNobody in my family gets the whole horse thing. I remain an oddity to them.
What a cute bunch of ladies! :) I'm glad you have each other--what fun!
ReplyDeleteI too have always wanted a sister. I have 2 brothers and neither one lives in my town. :(
ReplyDeleteBUT, my oldest brother and the one I am closest to is GAY! Has been forever and he was as close to a sister as I could have. In fact in some ways he is better than a sister, or at least was when growing up. He lives in Houston but we chat (online) everyday and enjoy each other's blogs.
You can enjoy his blog by going to www.sippiambrose.blogspot.com
He is very very special to me.
I have one brother and no cousins. My mother is the other horse person in the family.
ReplyDeleteYou must enjoy having an extended family! :)
I have a small family - just one brother. My cousins were close when we were kids, but not as much now that everyone has their own family. Just one cousin is like a big sister to me (I always make sure to rub it in that she is 9 years older than me...lol) and her kids are more like nieces than cousins to me.
ReplyDeleteI have always been the only one remotely interested in horses. My side of the family thinks horses are pretty and they like hearing about Rusty, which is nice. My in-laws don't even know the horse's name...
You are lucky to have such a great extended family to share your horse interests with!
I have a younger sister. She rides but prefers to just watch the horses. When we were growing up we both had ponies and rode together a lot. I did a lot more showing than she did simply because my competitive streak is FAR wider than hers! My mom and stepfather are avid and active riders and both of my grandparents were riders.
ReplyDeleteNow, my husband rides with me and my youngest daughter does too. The oldest is FAR more interested in boys, makeup and clothes right now to be bothered with the horses. My best friend since the 7th grade is also a rider and although we live four hours apart we still manage to get together from time to time to ride.
hi! i just wanted to say that i love your blog! i came across it recently and i enjoyed reading it and looking at your pictures of your big beautiful horse family! =)
ReplyDeletei couldn't help but comment on the question you asked at the end of this blog entry when you asked about family. I'm the second oldest of 10 kids in my family, 5 brothers and 4 sisters, all full siblings, and unlike you i only have 5 young cousins (all of whom i love dearly of course!) and indeed i feel i have been truly blessed to have such a big wonderful family to call my own and have such wonderful memories to share.
happy trails,
khr
by the way we all ride horses together and love every minute of it!
I have four sisters and one brother. I am the second to last. My little sister is 6 years younger than me. My brother graduated from high school when I was three. And believe it or not we all came from the same mom and dad!! LOL!!
ReplyDeleteI am the only one who like horses or has any for that matter. The lone ranger. My in laws like horses, they just never ride. So, do inlaws count?
My mom was the horse person in our family. She indoctrinated me :) My sister likes horses, but for a number of different reasons didn't get the same riding time as I did growing up. She likes horses, but doesn't have the same yen to own own that I do. She keeps talking about lessons....
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice not to be the sole horse person. After the last two old mares went, my mom said no more horses. They wanted to be free to travel, and her knees make riding painful. But when they visit she always comes out to the farm to get her "horse fix" - the herd gathers to be fussed over, and Sunny obliges by carrying her politely if it's decent for riding.
I definitely envy you your trail riding crew of sister & cuzettes! No one can pick their relatives, but some people are blessed with good ones :)
Okay it is me and my younger sister, that's it! I'm the only cowgirl, she doesn't ride at all! I did manage to get her on a horse when they came for a visit! My Dad doesn't ride, let alone like it that I ride. Hubby is a day working cowboy! Other than that I am the lone cowgirl in this bunch!
ReplyDeleteHow neat that you keep in touch with your extended family like that!
ReplyDeleteThere are four of us girls, and we all showed horses and rode while we were growing up, but Amber and I are the only ones who currently have anything to do with horses now...oh, and my mom rides too!
My sister that is seven years younger than me only rode because I did, and my youngest sister only rode because Amber did. They were kind of guilty by association :)
what a cute picture!! i have a huge family - 9 cousins & 9 2nd cousins on mom's side, 8 cousins & 4 2nd cousins on dad's side. a few still ride and have horses.
ReplyDeleteWow.. the cuzettes sure do have gumption. I am not so sure that if they had to scoop poop every day that they would be so happy to help.. LOL
ReplyDeleteI envy you and your cuzettes. My sister was 9 years older than me, physically and mentally handicapped and was like a 5 year old mentally all her life, I loved my sister took care of my sister for many many years, but I basically had no siblings to confide in, do things with or fight with. Treasure that as much as you can, family is everything in life!
Now I have 6 kids, 5 boys and a girl, 2 grandkids and 2 foster kids! My youngest boy rides our horses. They all ride when they visit us, which I am so grateful that it is often.