It was July 1995. I was 31 years old and single. Had a horse, a truck, a trailer, and a rope. I was boarding at a family-owned ten stall barn in New Hampshire that had the best boarders, who actually all got along perfectly. There was an even split of English and Western disciplines. We had dinners together, enjoyed long trail rides together, swam our horses together, and spent many holidays together. Everybody was married but me, and none of the horse owners’ spouses had any interest in horses. Sound familiar?
My friend Deb, who owned this beautiful Dutch Warmblood named Dab Hand, was going to move him to a different facility about 7 miles away for additional dressage training. We were very sad to see our group split up. I agreed to trailer Deb and Dab to the new facility on a very nice Saturday morning. I remember the morning well. Wore my jeans, button-down roper Western shirt, cowboy boots, and a nice silver belt buckle. We arrived at the facility and the driveway was a bit tricky, so I decided to drive past the driveway and back in. As I was backing in, I spotted a very pretty gal in my side-view mirror. She was wearing paddock boots and a black and white one piece houndstooth riding/body suit. YIKES!!!!!!!
We got out of the truck, opened up the trailer, and backed the horse out. The facility owner came out and introduced herself. The horse was immediately turned out into a small paddock where he settled in rather nicely. Deb and the facility owner walked over toward the house to go over documents and complete their business. That left me alone, scared to death of this striking blue-eyed beauty. What do I say?? I broke the ice and asked her which horse was hers. Really dug deep for that one. She embarrassing looked over to the 17.2 hand chestnut gelding running the fence on what looked like 2 legs. Okay!! Looks good from a distance.
We walked into the barn and conversed about what we do with our horses. She was an eventer. I told her that she was crazy to jump things that didn’t move if you hit them. Good job John! Way to score points! After what seemed to be half an hour, she started to tell me what days she rode there, what days she worked there, and what days she took her lessons. Ladies, if you are reading this, you probably know what was really going on. Now you know why I was 31 and single. All of these hints went clear over my head! I was wondering why this girl was telling me this. It was time to go, and I really wanted to stay and chat some more. But that would have been too obvious, wouldn’t it?
Deb had a friend named Jim who rode Dab Hand a few nights per week. I asked Jim to find out whether Lisa — yes, I did remember her name — was single. He and Deb were able to find out and they kindly asked the facility owner if I could get her number. Brave cowboy I am!! Fast forward a couple of weeks. We went to lunch — very safe first date. Second date was a trail ride in the rain. I was still in too much of a cloud from the first date. Remember now — back in 1995 there were no cell phones, only landlines. We talked for hours on end. It would have been easier to drive to her house 40 minutes away and watch a VHS!!! I had asked her whether she had ever been on a moonlight ride. My friends and I used to ride at night all the time.
The barn I boarded at was a couple miles from Lake Massabesic, a rather small- to medium-sized lake. You could ride to it by a trail system with nice wide winding trails. I did a lot of training on those trails. The lake used to have a riverboat that was the scene of much gambling in the early 1900s. People would travel up from Boston by horse and buggy to stay at the quaint little 14-room inn on the lake’s point named Battery Point. Unfortunately the inn burned down in the 20s. You would ride your horse through the trails and eventually come upon a wide open grassy area surrounded by large granite slabs that overlooked the lake. That was Battery Point. That was always a destination.
I wanted to impress Lisa in the most impressive way. There was a full moon coming that week, and it was going to be crystal clear. It was Thursday, August 10, 1995. A group of friends and I planned to go out on her first moonlight ride that night. Now the setup. Around noon, I packed a wheelbarrow with a bale of hay, two hay bags, a cooler with champagne, strawberries, brown sugar, sour cream, and a few other things. Wheeled it all the way out to Battery Point, hid everything in a thicket, covered it over with tree limbs, and wheeled all the way back to my truck.
We all set out for our moonlight ride to Battery Point around 8:00 pm. Lisa was riding a gentlemanly Morgan named Hot Shot. No way we were taking her Thoroughbred with us. We arrived at Battery Point and hung out on our horses for a while, talking and taking in the moonlit lake view. After half an hour passed, the others all turned and left while laughing and waving. Lisa wondered what was going on. I told her that I had a surprise for her. I dragged out the blanket, cooler, hay, etc. We tied the horses loosely to some branches and had a moonlight picnic. It was a breathtaking evening, to say the least. We had some great horses.
To make a long story short, we were engaged 3 weeks later — she told me she was going to marry me — married a year later, and after 24 years of marriage, one child, many horses, dogs, cats, birds, and other furry animals, we still travel the country with our horses and ride everywhere we can. This time of year, as a new year begins, I count my blessings and am very thankful for the friends and family who have shared in our crazy life.
Lisa and I lead a blessed life and hope you do also.
Until we talk again!
John has a lifelong relationship with horses. Well known in the equine industry, he has balanced his time training, instructing, judging, and teaching equine nutrition.
John has worked for a nationally recognized feed company as well as serving as consultant to others. Prior to The Feed Geek, he managed New England Performance Nutrition, another equine nutrition consulting business.
His guiding principle is a pure belief in the importance of balanced equine nutrition in regards to equine health and performance. For more information, feel free to call him at 603.520.3875, email TheFeedGeek@gmail.com, or visit The Feed Geek on Facebook.
