In The Beginning…

…When men returned from the hunt dragging their conquests behind – they told stories of daring and bravery – of mishaps and mistakes.

At home the women washed and gathered  and they told stories of wounds and whispers  – of innocence and of wisdom.

At night, around the fire, dogs at our feet, bellies full of food,  sounds of the horses just outside of the campfire – more stories were told – a mix of adventures and redemption.

The stories united us. The stories are how we remembered and how we learned.

Later, we trudged through uncharted waters, over mountains and deserts, we traded stories with passing strangers. We gave them our books and they gave us theirs – the stories connected us.

When radio arrived we sat around the box eager to hear the storytellers’ voices – the same storytellers our neighbors heard and the folks across the state line too. Those stories connected us more.

Television came and we communed around the screen as it told us stories that people all over the country saw – jokes we all laughed at characters we all knew struggled mightily – and we were connected further.

When the Internet arrived, we found that even in our weirdest quirks  we  were not alone in our fascinations and we connected through their stories, their songs, their windows into each other’s lives.

In each iteration, we both gained and lost connection- but the medium was the same – the stories.

Humans are hard wired to connect through stories. In stories, we lose the isolation and we connect. We watch tragedy so we understand  we can and will bear tragedy. We laugh at irony and pathos. In laughter we build resilience to futures unknown. We cheer the heroes so that we too – might aspire to our heroic goals. We denounce the villains to suppress the villain inside us.

Through stories we recognize ourselves in others that may not look like us or seem like us – but we know that they are us – and this allays the beast we call loneliness.

I set out to tell a story. A story of what I know. A story of who I am – a woman – and what I love – horses. I am one of many women who love horses and write stories of them.

Taking the best of what we know about stories and how we use them – and using the best of what technology has given us to deliver it-my dream is to build a community that is connected by story – a community that feels a little less alone – a little braver – a little kinder because of a connection.

This story is an amalgamation of many brave women I know who risk everything for the chance to ride. It’s a story for those women and for the women who didn’t get the same chances to feel for a moment the freedom of riding a very fast horse. It’s a story for the men who love those women or who also love the horses.

Beginning June 11, 2018 – what happens to be my 50th birthday-  we’ll publish not chapters – but scenes every week. Scenes are sometimes less than a 2 minute read and not more than 10 minutes.

I didn’t write it for money – but for love. If you feel the need to monetize this – I’ll gladly encourage you to make a donation to the Thoroughbred AfterCare Alliance. Together, we make a HUGE difference in the lives of these gallant animals.

So let’s connect through story.
Comment.
Bash.
Love.
It’s the connection that counts.

Onward with the story – it starts here.

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