05/26/2026
I came across these photos in my OneDrive memories this morning. The year was 2015. Eleven years ago, I'm pretty sure this large pony's name was Tess or Tessa, came in for training for Hedricks Exotic Animal Farm. The kids in this picture were maybe 16 or 17. They'd been together since they were about 14 and she started taking lessons out here. Suddenly, my "I don't want to work with horses" son was chanelling his inner John Wayne and spending lots of time at the barn 🤣
Fast forward 11 years and these kids have a house in a little town, 2 horses, a cat and a dog. He's a Senior Master Mechanic and she is graduating Physician Associate school. They will be getting married next spring ❤️
And every year at the State Fair, I check over the Hedricks black and white ponies giving pony rides to kids, and wonder if one of them could be Tess, who got her start right here 😊
Sometimes life sucks in the worst way but it has a unique habit of balancing out the big suck with a thousand little ways of awesome and amazing moments, memories, and end results. 🥰
