Why Trailady?

I've had several people inquire why I go by Trailady. This would be a good time to give the history behind the name. I worked with horses at summer camps. I started out as a dusty wrangler feeding, managing tack and shoveling meadow muffins. Gradually I worked my way up to Instructor and eventually I was Director of the equestrian programs. What FUN!! No job has ever measured up. I adore horses and I'm a western riding enthusiast. There's nothing like the smell of fresh air, horses and leather. Part of my job description every one of those 11 summers was to lead trail rides. There are few things I enjoy more than trail riding. Well, often as I was going through the woods with a string of riders behind me, one of them would call out "Hey Trailady, where are we going this time?" or "Hey Trailady, are we going to go fast?" My favorite place of all to work was in northern Idaho. Wow is it ever beautiful up there! Green, arrid and lots of game. Big deer, turkey, bobcat, elk, coyote, even an occasional moose. (Unfortunately, we did not see any moose) Now Turkey are neat to see from a distance, but if you startle one in the brush nearby, it sounds like a helicoptor when it takes flight- it's enough to make a wreck of your trail ride. That's when it's especially nice to have an experienced trail horse under you! I remember one day we came up on a big herd of deer grazing in a meadow. Rather than turn around, we just calmly & quietly rode through the herd. They parted non-chalantly as we passed, undisturbed. A friend of mine once told me that the scent of a horse is strong enough to cover that of a man and if you sit really still in the saddle and don't say anything, you can pull an adventure like this off. (I don't reccommend this to green riders- in the event the herd spooked, you may not be able to handle the situation.) Anyway, it was a neat experience. Every day as we rode out into the mountains, I really had church. I could almost hear God whispering "I love you" to me. And of course, every so often someone would call out, "Hey Trailady, can we stop for a minute?" Guess it kind of stuck with me....