![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yourhorsefarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/1383388_10202551203487042_1392197189_n.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nThere\u2019s just something about these wondrous animals that not only bonds us with them but other horse-loving individuals as well.<\/p>\n
The summer before fifth grade, my parents leased an older mare for me who became my first
\nheart horse: Lady Be Good. Perhaps it\u2019s no surprise that I met my lifelong best friend that same
\nyear when we ended up in the same class at school. The daughter of a veterinarian, Summer
\nhad a passion for all animals, but especially horses. However, unlike me, she didn\u2019t have one.
\nShe\u2019d taken lessons though, and had her heart set on buying one of her own someday. I invited
\nher over to ride and that was it\u2014we\u2019ve been best friends ever since (now for over 35 years).<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Not long after we became friends, Summer began saving money for a horse, and a couple of
\nyears later, my mom so happened to have a friend who was willing to sell a middle-aged mare for the exact amount that Summer had saved up. She was over the moon the day she brought Lacey home. Or to my house, to be exact. We ended up trading out boarding for bargain veterinary care from Summer\u2019s father.<\/p>\n
Our teenage years were filled with trail riding, horse shows, play days, and parades, almost
\nalways done together. They were the best kind of teen years to have.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
*Pictured: Summer and me circa 1991, preparing for a parade with Lacey and Lady<\/p>\n
We went through difficult times together, too. Summer\u2019s younger sister was diagnosed with
\nleukemia which eventually required a bone marrow transplant. When boyfriends didn\u2019t work out,
\nwe always had each other and, of course, our horses. When I had to retire Lady, I moved on to
\nDee, my first barrel horse, and when Lacey became injured, Summer rode my mom\u2019s horse,
\nChulo. In our mostly suburban school, we were known as \u201cthe cowgirls\u201d, often donning our
\ncolorful Rockies, belt buckles, and boots (this was the 90s after all!). When I took the rodeo
\nqueen crown for our local round-up club junior year, Summer followed in my footsteps the next
\nyear.<\/p>\n
We became college roommates, bringing our horses with us to school and boarding them at a
\nlocal barn until we found a rented house on a small acreage. After classes, our afternoons still
\nconsisted of everything horses. By this time, I had a new mare, P.K., and Summer got her
\nsecond horse, Cowboy.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yourhorsefarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Summer-and-Casie-on-Sister-and-Cowboy.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
*Pictured: At one of the last few barrel races I ever competed in, Summer on Cowboy, me on a borrowed horse, Sister<\/p>\n
Though we would graduate from college, get married, and move to different states, our
\nfriendship has remained steady and strong all these years. Any time we talk on the phone or get
\ntogether for a visit, horses are always a topic of conversation. And though they\u2019ve become more
\nmy muse than my mounts these days, Summer is still very much active in the riding world as a
\nfiercely competitive barrel racer who also coaches young people just getting into the sport.<\/p>\n
Our love of horses continues to bond us, but when the topic of conversation strays to children or
\njobs, or other life events, that\u2019s okay too. There\u2019s always plenty for lifelong best friends to talk
\nabout. These are the kinds of friendships that horses can forge, after all. The close and lasting
\nones.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/yourhorsefarm.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/DSC04581.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
*Pictured: At a barrel race Summer was competing in, circa 2019 (during a snowstorm!)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s just something about these wondrous animals that not only bonds us with them but other horse-loving individuals as well. The summer before fifth grade, my parents leased an older mare for me who became my first heart horse: Lady Be Good. Perhaps it\u2019s no surprise that I met my lifelong best friend that same…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":38382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,63],"tags":[189,193,190,192,191],"class_list":["post-38365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-riding","tag-best-friends","tag-bestie-and-me-and-horses","tag-female-friendship","tag-horse-friends","tag-horse-girls"],"yoast_head":"\n