When I was in the first grade, I walked out the back door of my elementary school and attempted to find my way home on my own. Thus ended my career in the DC public schools. Forced to think outside the box of a more traditional education, my mother (ever resourceful), found an affordable and better option for her daughter – I landed in a Montessori-driven curriculum. While there, I was able to learn without being tethered to a classroom, and in the process, I found my love of animals and especially horses. Those were formative and wondrous years.
Later, I found few opportunities to repeat that connection with horses forged on no small amount of acreage tucked into a corner of Montgomery County, Maryland. But my desire for a sense of home – for a return to North Carolina became overwhelming in the early aughts and it was fueled by an inexplicable need to be close to horses again. Given the history of this part of the country, it is no accident that my return to the place where I spent my summers as a child also entailed a return to riding.
My people have been in this state since before the Revolutionary War – about the same time that the great hunt seat tradition was started and the sport of racing was born on the backs of a few quarter horses and the enslaved men who rode, groomed and trained them. There is no part of the soil in this place that isn’t saturated with horse and human connections. Here, it is in our blood.
A horse is in your house: Reconfiguring our discussions in Animal Studies (Medium)
Dog Save the People: Part of This World w/ Dr. Sharon Holland