Feb 12 - My friend Cindy!

Cindy Shaw is my wonderful friend who asked me to share this ride with her.  She mentioned it one day; said it was on her bucket list but she did not want to do it alone.  I instantly put my hand up.  I am always up for an adventure!  We started planning a year ago.  Cindy is an amazing horsewoman.  She has a lifelong love of horses and is so good with them.  I like the way she works with them.  Quiet, confident, and strong.  Cindy is very much in tune with animals, especially horses!

We met where I work, at Nature's Classroom, in Tampa, FL.  Cindy is a retired middle school science teacher who was a substitute teacher at Nature's Classroom when I started working there 5 years ago.  She invited me up to her farm, and I accepted.  Since then, she has had all the members of my family, including my dog, up for extended stays.  We started riding together in the woods when we could, but it was never enough!  We then tried to plan a monthly trip to the woods and as our big adventure of next week grew near, we started riding together every week.  We have laughed and cried and played and run free together in the woods.  Finding a best friend is a lot like falling in love!

I still work full time, so I have not been able to be on the farm as Cindy does all the hard work preparing for this trip.  She has the farrier up there this week to check on all the horse's shoes, food and hay to deal with, other farm animals to care for, and tack that is now clean, along with the trailer and its leaking issues!  Her kids are all grown but my two are still in school!  Our husbands are taking over the house (for me) and the farm (for Cindy) so we can go on this amazing adventure!  Thank you, Jim and John!  We could not do it without you!