09/10/2026
Throwback Thursday, Equus Couture Style
It’s been a wild summer and we took a pause with our posts, but we’re going to start these back up again!
The best week of the entire year growing up was always fair week. There was nothing more exciting than hauling your beloved horse to the fair and not only showing all week, but sleeping in the barn every night. (Sidenote: I’m curious, do 4-H kids still do this?)
We would set up cots in the aisle way outside our horse’s stall every single night and I remember nothing feeling better than waking up and peeking over the edge of the stall to see my horse right there as the first thing my eyes saw in the morning. I’ve never had the luxury of my horse in my own back yard, I’ve always had to keep my horse on someone else’s property, so this was such a huge deal for me.
You could only stay overnight if a parent volunteered to stay a night or two to help chaperone the 4-H group, so dad was always the one who did this so my sister and I could experience the fun of sleeping in the barn with our horses. I’m so thankful that I kept a journal those first few years (enjoy a few excerpts - Freedom is the horse in the first photo and Confection was our Arabian & the last photo was our Saddlebred, Precious a few years later).
I remember feeding funnel cakes to my horses, inhaling fried fair food, showing in both regular & fun classes both on my own horse and friends horses, riding at night, staying up late and eating my fill of milkshakes from the 4-H milkshake booth - not to mention working the booth, bathing our flea bit gray Arabian every two seconds with Quik Silver 🤍 and making new horsie friends. Those were the days. As an adult several years ago, I wandered back to the fair with John and my parents and got to see my old 4-H advisor for the first time in YEARS. It felt like coming home.
What are some memories from your horsie childhood that are vivid for you like these are for me? I’d love for you to share in the comments.
