How Serendipitous!

When I was pregnant with Olivia, we went to the St. James Art Fair in Louisville. This is an artsy experience and a delightful way to spend a beautiful October day in Kentucky. This trip was no exception.
It is at this art fair that we met an artist named Sarah Lynne Richards. Her equine art is extraordinary. It was her water color of running horses that caught my eye. "and in the dream I was flying" also caught my breath.
This is one of her paintings named "Dance". Can you see the hidden image of the dancer?

So we fell in love with the artist, her husband and her art.
After Olivia was born, we called Sarah Richards and asked her to commission a piece for us depicting two adults and two foals in her painting. She took the challenge and eventually sent us pictures of our new art. As it was way too precious to send through the mail, we arranged to meet in Louisville in June. Equitana, the Equestrian Sports World Fair, is held all over the world. This year the event was held in Louisville, KY. It is an event with horse shows and vendors with booths. As we are only an hour drive from Louisville, this was a nice opportunity to enjoy Equitana, Sarah Richards' company and pick up our new art.
On Thursday, June 10, 1999 we arrived at Sarah's booth. We found our painting and a very excited artist. During our visit with her she shared with us that she had bred her Arabian mare to one of the most stunning horses she had ever seen. She wanted so badly for us to see this Frisian horse before we left Equitana.
On our way out of the fair grounds, we stopped at the booth where the Frisian was being shown. He WAS gorgeous. He was so gentle as well. The owner spoke to us for quite a while and even put Camille on the big guy's back.
Even surrounded by mares, this beautiful black stallion was cool. We were hooked! As we were preparing to leave, I looked quickly around the gentleman's booth for something to purchase. I felt I needed to add to the cause. He had only been in operation with his Friesian farm in Pennsylvania for a year. We knew we were not in the position to buy a Friesian, yet, but he had spoken to us in depth about it and our dream began.
One way he promoted his farm was by having a raffle. The raffle was begun the year before when his black stallion sired a foal with a Morgan mare. The little foal was so cute and he had sold over 600 tickets to his raffle in the past year. The drawing was to be held in a couple of days but with 600 tickets sold, that was not a detail that I thought too much about, however, that was the perfect way for me to contribute to this kind man's farm. I bought two tickets: one with Camille's name and one with Olivia's name. Olivia was only a year old but she loved the ticket stub with the horse on it, so I handed the ticket stubs to her to play with on our way home to Lexington.
Well, wouldn't you know! Sunday evening there was a phone call. The caller asked to speak to Olivia. I said with deep skepticism that Olivia was a baby of one year. The caller said "well that one year old baby has just won a foal!" I started jumping up and down. I couldn't believe it. Don and Camille came running to see what on Earth was going on. I hung up and told them that we had won the foal. The breeder in PA was making arrangements for her delivery in 2 weeks! We didn't even have a paddock. We have plenty of space but no barn, no fence, no paddock. With delivery time drawing near, we were offered space on Jim Plemmons farm right beside us. Whew! That really saved us. Now to find a name.
Don wanted so badly to call her Sarah. A wonderful way to honor the artist that told us about that Friesian farm. I strongly disagreed. I thought it might be an insult. I didn't know how Sarah Lynne Richards would take to such a gesture. It was simply bizarre. I couldn't think of it and it took me the full 2 weeks to convince Don that it just wasn't the right thing to do.
The day before the delivery of our foal, the farm owner called to be sure we would be available all day to accept her. We talked a bit but right before we hung up, I said "oh, by the way, does she have a name?"
He replied, "well, she is registered as Serendipity, but we call her Sarah!"







He then added "you can change it if you want!"
I recovered from my incredulous shock and answered "no, Sarah is the perfect name!"

Happy Father's Day

Don and I met in April 1984. For both of us, it was love at first sight. These are the things I knew about the man I met:
He was fun, fun, fun! He was smart. He was ambitious. He was friendly. He was sociable. He was a good and loyal friend. He loved to travel (that was good since I was a flight attendant for Delta Airlines). He was really good-looking. He was patient. He was considerate. He was playful. He was insightful.
Never did I dream that this man had so many surprises in store. In 1992 I learned that he is the best Daddy a mother could ever wish for her children. Camille and Olivia are so in love with this man and he is crazy about his girls. All of the traits that I love in my husband are the same traits that they love in their Daddy.

Our House

OK. We have been in this house for thirteen years now. Thirteen years. I must say, though, this is not the same house or the same land we bought in 1995. Frankly, it is not even the same family. hehe. When we moved here in 1995, we were a family of three. Mom, Dad and a 2yo little girl. We also had one big, black cat named Hobie.
Since waaaaay back then, we have changed our house tremendously. It is not a tan brick, four bed/four bath home. We now have a white brick, five bed/five and a half baths. We no longer have a covered porch. We have a glassed in sun-room! We don't have 8.5 acres anymore. We bought the one acre square beside our property so now it is more like 9.5 acres. We now have a big barn.
AND we now have TWO darling daughters, three horses, two cats and a dog. Pretty typical, I think, for country life.
We have spent quite a bit of time changing this house into a wonderful home. It seems like each summer, we do something pretty drastic to alter it and this summer is really no exception. For the first time since our moving in 13 years ago, we are having our yard professionally landscaped. Admittedly, I have been overwhelmed by the job. Moving into such a large yard with a 2yo and a swimming pool is daunting. There is no comfort in trying to maintain flower beds in the front yard when you have children toddling around and there is a pool in the backyard. We had more security and, frankly, more fun just swimming. To tell the truth, I like flowers and I am happy to plant a few in the spring. I do not know anything about landscape or design. So, it was a bit neglected.
In steps Hart James. We had a few people look at the landscape but it was Hart James that took the bull by the horns and really came up with a popping design that we are thrilled to add to our home.
Today is the day that I think we are finished altering our home. It is now the beautiful spacious home of which we have always dreamed.














It's a good thing, too, I am tired of seeing so many, um, er, well...contractor's pants!

The Show

Just think! Two months ago, Olivia was still too afraid to even trot on Brownie. After her spill from the saddle two years ago, she wanted to ride. She just couldn't get over the fear! We have never given up and she never gave up on herself. Cheryl has brought her a long way in knowing how to ride. Olivia knows her diagonals. Olivia knows how to hold her hands, her heels, and thumbs. Cheryl has done a fantastic job keeping the horses ready for Olivia. Elaine has worked with her these past couple of months with the kind of patience that left us all in awe. Olivia would make a couple of steps forward and then a few frustrating steps back. Finally, though, she really turned around and got over the lump of fear that was in her throat whenever she was on a horse. Just think! Two weeks ago, our family didn't even know what a courtesy circle in the show ring was. Elaine told Olivia about two weeks ago that she was ready for the Bluegrass State Games at the Kentucky Horse Park and then began preparing our little 10 year old for her very first horse show. WOW! That meant she had to trot in front of judges! Really? She's ready for that?
Olivia went to the Horse Park on Friday to train and watch all the show events for the day. We have never even been to a horse show before. She observed the hunters and jumpers and watched what was going on in the ring as well as outside the ring. She rode Brownie in a practice ring and even when Brownie balked at the far pole, she held steady and made her go over the little 5 in. jump!

Once again, we were at the Horse Park bright and early Saturday morning with huge butterflies in our stomachs. Even Camille was up and at 'em just to see her baby sister show for the very first time.
I signed Olivia in and the organizers said that she was the only contestant in her class and she didn't have to compete if she didn't want to. Whah? She's here, she's ready and she's psyched! Y'know, though, I didn't tell her she was the only one that showed up. I let her perform all three classes with the competitive butterflies in her stomach. She learned the pressure of performing in front of judges and learned how to maintain composure in the ring, even when your pony
balks at the far pole, which she did!
She was sooooo thrilled to receive her THREE blue ribbons. Her very first show and she received her first blue ribbons. She was OK with the fact that it was really by default. This little girl earned all three of them.
Then, once again, bright and early we all showed up on Sunday morning. Cheryl met us at the barn. Olivia tacked up Brownie and rode to the show ring like she owned it. That is when we saw ALL of the other contestants. There were 5 other riders in her three classes. Y'know, we all told ourselves that they give out 6 ribbons. Olivia is going to go home with a ribbon no matter what! Olivia being there at the Bluegrass State Games on a pony in a show was more than I would have thought possible just two short months ago. Here she was, though, ready to do this!
As luck would have it, she was the first one to enter the ring. She really did do every single thing right! Heels down, thumbs up, diagonals, smile! Everything was so good. Brownie needed to go a little bit faster but Olivia looked good. She left the ring after her second courtesy circle with a huge smile. WHEW! Big sigh of relief and she watched the other girls with their ponies perform.
Her second ride in the ring was even better than the first. Olivia once again did everything right. And this time, with the benefit of seeing others on their ponies going a faster pace, she made Brownie pick it up a bit. She looked so good and comfortable on that pony. Could this really be the same little girl that cried to get on and then cried to get off just two short months ago?
The third ride in the ring was a flat class, under saddle. All 6 riders and their horses went into the ring to show off their skills in front of the judges at the same time. Olivia did just fine. She was off a diagonal once or twice and we thought that it was OK. After all, with only 6 riders, she would get a ribbon for her first show. While they were showing, they announced the winners of classes 1 and 2. Olivia received a silver medal for class one. We couldn't believe it. She DID look good, though. There were girls with so much more experience than her in that ring and she placed second! THEN, they announced the winner of class 2 is rider 680, Olivia Fishback on Tollhouse! We whooped and whooped! Oh, my gosh! She received the GOLD medal for her second ride. After the under saddle class, the judges had the riders line up in front of them and then they announced the winners of that class and Olivia won the silver medal for that class, too. We are all still riding high on cloud 9. Two months ago, it was not even imaginable that she could get on her horse and ride in a show! Much less bring home 3 Blue ribbons, a Gold and 2 Silver medals! Just think!