Beth & Rosie | Perkasie, PA | The Golden Years Project

Rosie was 37 years old at the time of this portrait session – although you never would have known that by looking at her or interacting with her. Let’s just say she still had plenty of opinions and feelings about things! I love when a horse is so comfortable that they’re willing to share their whole personality with you – and Rosie did just that. She’s spent the second half of her life as the undisputed queen of her family’s farm, but the first half of her life took her from a spooky, hard-to-handle mare all the way to a decorated gymkhana horse and a true family heart horse.

Since it has been almost four years since Rosie’s photo shoot, I wanted to check-in with Beth and get an update so I could share her the update along with the rest of her story. And guess what?! Rosie is 41 years old and living her best life! What an amazing life she’s had, she’s so loved and cherished – Beth even throws her a birthday party every year to celebrate! Her 40th was a formal gala, and her 41st was a pajama party. Beth sent me some recent pictures, and Rosie looks amazing.

Thank you, Beth, and your family, for sharing Rosie’s story with us and being such kind and gracious hosts. I truly appreciated meeting your whole family and hearing Rosie’s story. It was amazing to hear how this mare shaped everyone’s lives and brought your family together.

Beth & Rosie | Beth’s family farm, Perkasie, PA

Horse: Rosie | Strawberry roan grade mare | Born March 26, 1985 | private family farm, Perkasie, PA

Discipline: Trail riding and gymkhana/barrel racing, now a retired pasture pet

HOW IT ALL STARTED

Rosie is a strawberry roan with a flaxen mane and tail – a grade mare, no papers, no fancy bloodlines, just a lot of personality. And she has never been short on that. She figured out how to flip the barn lights on and off with her nose, and she taught herself to open not just her own stall door, but her pasture-mate Mariah’s too. She also made a habit of escaping the pasture to graze on the wrong side of the fence, and she was notoriously hard to catch out in the field – you could chase her all day, but she’d only trot back down to the barn once she got tired of the game, like she wanted you to know she only came in because she felt like it.

HOW AND WHEN WE MET…

I was 8 years old and absolutely horse crazy. In 1988, my parents bought me a black-and-white pinto pony named Mariah. Then around 1990, our cows got loose in the state park next to our house, and my dad, my brother, and some neighbors rode out on horseback to round them up and bring them home. My dad had so much fun doing it that he decided he wanted a horse of his own – one he and my mom could ride together. We went to see Rosie at a stable I don’t even remember the name of anymore. She was already tacked up when we got there, and I hopped on and rode her around the stable yard without a single issue. That was it – she came home with us.

OUR LOWEST POINT…

The easy ride at the stable didn’t last. Once we got her home, Rosie was very fearful – we started to suspect she may have actually been drugged for that first meeting. If you approached her too quickly, she’d shy away and spin her rump toward you. We couldn’t handle her hind legs at all, and our farrier couldn’t even get near enough to trim her hooves. The first time I tried to ride her at home, she bucked me off and bolted straight back to the barn.

My dad barely knew anything about horses at the time, but Rosie became his project. We all spent time with her, moved slowly, and warned every single visitor not to raise a hand too quickly or startle her. My dad actually enrolled in a farrier course at the local vocational tech school just so he could learn to handle her hooves and trim them himself. Rosie was headstrong enough that for a long while, he was the only one of us confident enough to ride her.

OUR HIGHEST POINT…

Once Rosie settled in, we went trail riding constantly – the trail system in the state park next door made it easy. My dad’s business partner later gave us a bombproof Appaloosa mare named Frolic for my mom, and the three of us started taking weekend trail trips out to Maryland and New Jersey, tying the horses out and sleeping in the trailer, riding for hours at a stretch.

Years later, at 12, I broke my leg schooling a different horse and had to take a break from riding. When I came back to it, a childhood friend had gotten into barrel racing, and I thought I’d give it a try. Rosie, with all her sass, turned out to be perfect for gymkhana. My dad started hauling us to shows two or three times a month, and Rosie loved every second of it – she was good at it, too. Together we brought home several year-end championships, plus saddles, trophies, buckles, and even some prize money. We weren’t quite good enough for the biggest barrel shows, but we held our own in the 3-D classes. Our best events were ring spear, flag race, and keyhole. Pole bending was always our hardest class, and we spent so much time practicing it – I still remember our first clean run that was fast enough to place. I was so proud of the work we’d put in to get there.

WHERE WE ARE NOW…

When I outgrew Mariah, we brought home an appendix quarter horse named Flash, and later, in high school, I bought a young horse of my own to start under saddle. Rosie ponied him all over the property, putting up with his antics and showing him the ropes. She’s even given a few begrudging pony rides to my son and stepdaughter since then. Other horses have come and gone over the years, but Rosie earned her spot in our hearts, and a very comfortable retirement to go with it. She went from a scared, hard-to-handle mare to the best horse we’ve ever had in our barn – a true heart horse, living out her golden years right at home on my parents’ farm in Perkasie.

Here are some of Beth’s own pictures that she shared!