10 Comments
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Peter Hedges's avatar

Thank you for this post. A wonderful read.

Joan Zwagerman's avatar

Peter! Thank you for reading. This means a lot coming from you.

Ralph Rosenberg's avatar

My wonderful mother in law from SW Iowa loved horses and horseracing. I wish she were around to have read your column. Yes she did compete and was once the Sydney rodeo queen

Joan Zwagerman's avatar

Ralph, that’s delightful to know. Bob Simon interviewed Rosie Napravnik for that 60 minutes segment and she had incurred many injuries. “You’re insane,” he told her. She just replied that she loved it so much that broken bones were the price she was glad to pay. There’s just something about being one with a horse, eh?

Ralph Rosenberg's avatar

I grew up on the Southside of Chicago. Police rode horses. I did not know a horse owner until I moved to Iowa. I first rode a horse at the old age of 30 something.

Joan Zwagerman's avatar

They are powerful animals. To be respected and loved.

Ralph Rosenberg's avatar

I still find Seabiscuit a wonderful movie..and book.

Connie Taylor's avatar

Great info, Joan. What is so threatening about a woman training a horse? Indeed, what is so threatening about a woman doing anything??

Jim Sayers's avatar

Learned a lot about a topic I had never thought about much before. Thank you.

Joan Zwagerman's avatar

Thanks for reading, Jim! I learned a lot, too, by asking a lot of questions based on my initial observations. The questions led me deeper and deeper.