November 4, 2006: Fountain of Youth

I’ve been meaning to write about this all week, but life got away from me...

Last Saturday was Larry Campbell’s 65th birthday. We (and I mean this in the true collective sense, which includes all of us who ride at the barn) were STUNNED... because not one of us would have placed him anywhere beyond his early to mid-50’s. That got me thinking... and trainers aside, not one of the mostly women and handful of men that I ride with looks even close to their stated age. I think we’re on to something here: WE HAVE DISCOVERED THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH! If not the key to a long life, then at least the key to a happy, physically active life, complete with all the means necessary to deal with the stresses of everyday life.

I own my barn, so work and play have blurred edges (and the question is: do I ever really work? I’ll take the Fifth...), but I know that I provide a valuable service to my boarders beyond giving their four-legged friends a place to sleep. I provide a community where they can nurture their hopes and dreams, share their goals, and where they can go to escape from the unreal world (because please tell me: what’s so real about how non-horse people treat each other, anyway?) to be with like-minded others... and I find that most of my boarders don’t just dash in, get their horse-fix and dash out, but they dwell and linger, often for hours. I like that, encourage it even. It’s what makes the bad parts of owning a barn retreat into the distance, what makes it all worthwhile.

So, God Bless the Larry Campbells of the world, who look and feel young despite the calendar. I hope that 20 years from now (give or take), I shall be similarly blessed, and that there will always be people like him in my life to remind me exactly why I do what I do.