The Horseshoe Barn

It's funny; today I was thinking about the barn I drew up 'blueprints' for when I was little. While most little girls were dreaming of pretty dresses and planning their weddings, I was drawing up blueprints for the barn I was going to have where I could keep all my horses. I usually did this when I would spend days during the summer with my grandparents while my parents worked.

Grandma would take us to the dollar store and we'd each get to pick out one thing! I would price out things like shampoo to make notes of which kind was the cheapest; that was because I was going to buy whatever was cheapest so I would have enough money for my horses. Funny - back then I had not a clue about money and making a living and the cost of owning horses, but somehow I knew that there were areas where brand names wouldn't matter because I needed to put my money with my horses!

I wish I still had those old 'blueprints'. Maybe I do somewhere. I remember I was going to have a barn in the shape of a horseshoe. I really can still picture it in my head, clear as day, the exact same way I did when I was little. My stalls were all going to border along the outside wall of the horseshoe, each with a window and/or run attached. This way, the middle/inside area of the horseshoe would be used to store hay, house a wash rack and also have an area for the tack room and grooming area.

On Sundays, when my Dad would get the Plain Dealer, I would go through the classifieds and read all about the horses for sale. I would make notes on how much the horses cost and even tried to convince my dad if he bought me one, I would take care of it and get a job to pay him back. I made notes on all the kinds of horses for sale and their cost and also all the tack that would be listed. I taught myself the classified 'slang'; like TB stood for Thoroughbred and 'hh' meant Hands High, in reference to the height of the horse. W/T/C meant walk, trot and canter...meaning the horse was trained to do all three, usually under saddle.

I envisioned myself buying those horses and filling up my horseshoe shaped barn with them! And here I am, years down the road later, and I may not have a horseshoe barn, but I have my dream! And I am more proud of it than I think I even realize!