First of all my dad was the best dad ever because he was thrown in to raising 2 energetic teenage girls on his own!! My mother passed away in October of 1987 when I was 12 and my sister was 13. By the time I was in grade 8 I showed such a HUGE intrest in horses and I begged my dad for lessons. He liked to enjoy a beer at the Royal Hotel where he hooked up with Tom Berry and asked him to give me some bare-back lessons (possibly this would turn me off!) Of course Tom made the lessons fun and the love of horses GREW and after twelve lessons I decided that I needed a horse of my own. I saved up that year and made $850 babysitting every chance I could get and I bought tack (even though my dad was still was saying “No”) I had horse posters all over my room and I wrote my dad many convincing letters about how I would ride my bike out to the barn EVERY morning and night to care for a horse of my own, I PROMISED!!! He was a quiet man….he would just grumble and move on.

And then one Friday night as I was about to go to bed he called me in to the living room and said “I was at Buckerfeilds today and I found an add for a horse, I’ll take you to look at it tomorrow”
Well I just squealed with delight, I couldn’t believe it….my dream WOULD come true!!!! And the next day my Dad took me to look at Quincy (a 20 year old anglo arab) and all went well….dad said that we would come the following day after we had slept on it. Of course that horse could have had one eye and three legs and I still would have wanted him….I just wanted a horse so very BAD!!! So on the Sunday we returned and I rode again, and even though his mouth was hard and his back was swayed I convinced my dad that Quincy (the bolting horse) was the PERFECT horse in EVERY WAY!! And I also said that I wanted to buy him. And this is the part where my awesome dad told me “well then let me show you how to write a check” and he PAYED for the horse for me!!! He said that I would need the money that I had saved for hay and vet bills etc…which was true.

And so began many days of riding my bike to and from the Gore’s boarding stable morning and night to feed and ride my perfect Quincy who the greatest Dad on earth gave me the opportunity to love!! How many Dad’s would have given in to such a huge demand when we weren’t “set up” with a farm to keep a horse on. Never mind he didn’t know anything about the animal, (though I did!) I have so many great memories of my dad proudly watching me ride around at Island 22, or my dad waving at me while I rode by him with Quincy all dressed up for the town parades. He was in the audience when I did my 4-H speech on “How to Make a Reusable Corsage” and of course he was always kind enough to drive me to the barn on a really bad weather morning (windy or snow)

The story of why my Dad is the greatest Dad ever does not end here….but I could write all night about the absolutely amazing things that my future held. From taking me up to Nelle’s Ranch in the summer’s to work on the ranch with Larry as a trail leader. And giving me the opportunity to show and own Arabians as a teenager (where our youth team won internationally two years in a row!) He was there to support me and my LOVE of horses every step of the way!

When my Dad died when I was 21, unfortunately so did this part of my life. I will always have the love of horses in my blood. It’s a part of me, and I still get out for a ride with friends which is (of course) my happy place. In a perfect world my dad would still be here and we would come out for a ride with you guys, just like the good ol’ day’s up at Nelles Ranch in Revelstoke!