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Horse Crazy Girls
Written By: Sue Blair - Carpe Diem Farms | Issue: 2021/09 – September
The allure of Carpe Diem Farms extends across generations.
Left to right Natalie, Sue , Blair
Those of you who know me personally know that I don’t have biological children. Over the years I have been blessed to have nearly 4,000 kids of all ages who have come through programs at Carpe Diem Farms.
Summer camps, afterschool programs, one-on-one riding lessons, internships and so much more.
My dearest friends have shared their children, allowing me to be “Aunt Sue” to them. Like the movie Auntie Mame where the young boy goes to stay and be spoiled by his special aunt, I too have been blessed with some extra special kids in my life!
And of course, there’s Regina, my best friend since the fifth grade, and her husband Don, who has been my “other brother” since we were in the seventh grade. I introduced them in my senior year and they married after college.
Together, they have three wonderful children to whom I ‘ve been Aunt Sue. Like the proverbial Auntie Mame, I’ve had the opportunity to share life with them.
Those three are now adults with children of their own. Natalie, the oldest, has always been my Horse Girl. I believe it was her fifth birthday when I hosted her birthday party at my house, complete with pony rides for all the participants. When she graduated from college, she spent the summer before graduate school volunteering with kids’ camps and helping with all the horses. Trail rides and exercising horses was a part of our routine. Now married with two children of her own she and her family visit the farm whenever they can.
Natalie and her 10-year-old daughter, my god-daughter and namesake, Blair, just spent three glorious days with me on the farm.
“Barn Rats,” we were working from morning until night. Grooming, bathing, riding, mucking and all that goes with life on the farm.
Blair and Natalie take weekly riding lessons in Connecticut. Blair is a natural and has visions of riding on her college equestrian team one day.
She can’t wait until she is old enough to spend a summer working on the farm herself. Me either!
Life is filled with glorious blessings!
