Detour to an Old Friend's

We made a detour on the way home from Grandma and Grandpa's. 

This is the second time we've attempted it. The first time, Gay wasn't there.

Gay is a long-time family horse friend. Carrie and Grandma met Gay when Carrie was around 9 and Gay's daughters were around 10 and 8. 

Cue many happy memories. Carrie and I spent the night at the farm several times before Shane was born.

However, there was some horse drama while we newlyweds.

Long story short: Chilly had a spine condition no one knew about, because Carrie rode well. Carrie leased Chilly to a novice rider at Gay's barn who we learned did not ride well. Chilly started to develop back pain. Then Chilly started to require medical attention (Lyme disease) and despite that the leaser still wanted to ride him in an upcoming show, so Carrie pulled Chilly to go elsewhere which upset the leaser.

There was a lot of other horse drama before and after the stay at Gay's that factors in, as well.

When Carrie was pregnant, we leased Chilly out to a woman who starved him before he went to Gay's. After Gay's, the woman who helped us out lost her barn. And in case you missed it, Carrie was pregnant with Shane throughout.

It was a rough time, but God pulled us through. Carrie has wanted to stop by Gay's, but the farm is well out of our normal paths.

We made the time today. Ironically, Gay is downsizing and selling her farm as Carrie is looking at building her own.

The two were eager to reminisce and talk shop.

We arrived at the farm as Gay was arriving herself. We followed her up to turn out some horses and then drove over to the house to catch up.

This trip wasn't so much for Shane. I'm not sure he really got that.

I did let him hang around some (literally), but then it was Shane-damage-control while the adults.

There was some limited roaming and socializing with the elderly pup. I gave Shane my phone for a little while until he burned through the battery.

I got to listen in if not participate. There was talk of Yellowstone park being worth the trip and the crazy lady who hired Carrie to ride a dangerous horse without warning her the horse had a tendency to try and kill her riders (which led to Carrie in the hospital with a crushed hip).

Nostalgia would have ruled another hour if Shane hadn't been past his breaking point! Carrie was thrilled for the chance to catch up with Gay in person.