We Ride Sport and Trail Magazine August 2016 | Page 42

My trip to the horse park for my third horse, Patriot, was his second trip off’n the homestead in his entire life. You can imagine he had the “Goh-Olly, this here’s the big city” kinda mindset for when we arrived. Nothing like throwing a green horse into the mix. I think you would all agree that there are very rare rides on a horse you could say are epic, I’ve had three in my lifetime. Patriot rode THAT ride for me. I couldn’t have been prouder of him.

Needless to say, the horse park holds a lot of great memories for everyone behind the Jeff Wilson team…which makes me happier than my granddaddy’s beer belly at our families redneck weddings. I just need to say thank you to everyone involved including the horse park staff who kept us alive in the heat, the amazing BreyerFest staff who ran a smooth event for us to be a part of, and my super group of loyal workers, supporters, and family.

Have you ever read the book My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George? It is a strange coincidence that I ride on Bramley Mountain, that I play with hawks on the very same mountain where this famous book took place. Where Frightful, the red tailed hawk, met Sam, the boy from the city. It may be fiction but I still look for the big tree where they both lived when I ride.

My other horses had their own special gig, too. A few years ago, my Morgan stallion Black Willow Orion was chosen to display what became an epic tribute to the military. Orion was body clipped leaving all the signature logos of the military on his body, and displayed at Equine Affaire in Massachusetts. The clipper was the well known and respected Dana Boyd Miller. She agreed to duplicate the blockbuster clip job for BreyerFest, and I knew everyone was in for, once again, a once in a lifetime treat. She drove up from Florida with her husband John and her assortment of clippers and stencils. Her masterpiece took her: two and a half days of clipping, help from her husband John, and her flawless display of talent and artistry.

If you think horses have minds of their own, you should try birds. The questions that continued to rattle around in our brains during the 13.5 hour drive to the horse park were: Would the birds fly for our performances, or would they opt out? Would they try to fly out of the building or make their way to the ceiling and camp there? If dreams really come true, what about nightmares? …all to the tune of a heat index of 110 degrees. But was there time for worry? Does a chicken have lips?

I had more things to do than a dog with fleas, but my team of talent is amazing, and everyone played their part. If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then to make sure it's still there with ya. That couldn’t be more true of my staff at this event with its complexities and sheer time spent in the hot Kentucky sun with an event to produce, but we moved that mountain.

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Image courtesy of ©Breyer. Photographed by Jennifer Munson.

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