Oct 20, 2023 — Wouldn’t it be great if this were the most pressing question in our world today?! Thinking many of us might feel like riding off into a beautiful, peaceful sunset — at least for the weekend! — I have a little adventure story to share with you.
One evening, three decades ago now, I was sitting in the guest area of a retirement home, waiting for my mother to come down for dinner. After months of non-stop challenges, Mom was in a good place … and I was completely drained from managing her health care, finances, and living arrangements, on top of the demands of my own then-startup business. If you’ve ever been stretched too thin, you’ll relate: I felt tired, torn, and confused. And I felt sad, bewildered and frustrated that my life seemed no longer my own — I’d let my obligations completely take over.
Waiting there at my wit’s end in the formal living room, I picked up a well-worn issue of Travel & Leisure magazine, and was immediately drawn to a piece on The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota. The story and all the pretty pictures of powerful horses running full-speed through 11,000 acres of pure prairie, hills, trees, and streams absolutely captivated me. “That’s how I want to feel again,” I mumbled. “FREE!”
That was Saturday evening. By Tuesday afternoon, I was bouncing along in the back of a pickup, trailing those wild horses around the sanctuary. I’d arrived after dark the night before, and was led by flashlight to my teepee. Come to find out, on all those 11,000 acres were only two, two-legged inhabitants: The sanctuary founder and me! While I didn’t know it at the time, Dayton Hyde was a legendary western fiction writer, conservationist and teller of tall tales, so it promised to be quite a week.
Dances With Wolves had been filmed on that awe-inspiring land, and the teepees you see in the movie had been left as guest quarters for future wild horse visitors. So there I was, lying on my little cot in the middle of absolutely nowhere, pre-cell phones, in a stunner of a thunderstorm. Smoke from a small firepit in the center of the teepee billowed out the hole in the top, while lightning like I’d never seen streaked a sky cracking as I’d never heard. My nightlong, “What was I thinking?!” was quickly answered in the gorgeous morning, when I woke to the soft whinny of horses slurping water in the sparkling creek just a stone’s throw away.
That week worked wonders! The sense of not being constantly needed, along with the sights and sounds of the horses running under the eternal South Dakota sky. Riding with Dayton through wide-open miles, stopping only to break apart another bale of hay for the beauties he loved. It restored my energy and my faith in me.
Since then, the documentary you can click on below was made about the life of this awesome cowboy — friend to the land, the horses, and native Americans. It’s quite interesting.
When I originally shared this adventure in a CNews a few years back, Cardie Lyn Dorenzo left the comment, “I loved this story for several reasons. I helped my husband care for his mother in her own home before she died at the age of 100. Yes, life took a back seat to her phone calls, night or day, and responsibilities. And I, too, own a business; thankfully, not a start-up, it’s been going for 33 years. It is caring for more than 40 people with dementia, and the same number of staff for two assisted living homes and a day program. Like you, I knew that horses would help me manage stress. So, we rescued two old horses. I don’t ride them; just love on them. Whether it’s horses or being in nature or watching good movies — whatever helps one “renew” — go for it. And send friends Cardthartic cards!!”
Sounds like a good weekend plan to me. Here’s to turning off the news and filling back up again.
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
Oct 20, 2023 — Wouldn’t it be great if this were the most pressing question in our world today?! Thinking many of us might feel like riding off into a beautiful, peaceful sunset — at least for the weekend! — I have a little adventure story to share with you.
One evening, three decades ago now, I was sitting in the guest area of a retirement home, waiting for my mother to come down for dinner. After months of non-stop challenges, Mom was in a good place … and I was completely drained from managing her health care, finances, and living arrangements, on top of the demands of my own then-startup business. If you’ve ever been stretched too thin, you’ll relate: I felt tired, torn, and confused. And I felt sad, bewildered and frustrated that my life seemed no longer my own — I’d let my obligations completely take over.
Waiting there at my wit’s end in the formal living room, I picked up a well-worn issue of Travel & Leisure magazine, and was immediately drawn to a piece on The Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary in South Dakota. The story and all the pretty pictures of powerful horses running full-speed through 11,000 acres of pure prairie, hills, trees, and streams absolutely captivated me. “That’s how I want to feel again,” I mumbled. “FREE!”
That was Saturday evening. By Tuesday afternoon, I was bouncing along in the back of a pickup, trailing those wild horses around the sanctuary. I’d arrived after dark the night before, and was led by flashlight to my teepee. Come to find out, on all those 11,000 acres were only two, two-legged inhabitants: The sanctuary founder and me! While I didn’t know it at the time, Dayton Hyde was a legendary western fiction writer, conservationist and teller of tall tales, so it promised to be quite a week.
Dances With Wolves had been filmed on that awe-inspiring land, and the teepees you see in the movie had been left as guest quarters for future wild horse visitors. So there I was, lying on my little cot in the middle of absolutely nowhere, pre-cell phones, in a stunner of a thunderstorm. Smoke from a small firepit in the center of the teepee billowed out the hole in the top, while lightning like I’d never seen streaked a sky cracking as I’d never heard. My nightlong, “What was I thinking?!” was quickly answered in the gorgeous morning, when I woke to the soft whinny of horses slurping water in the sparkling creek just a stone’s throw away.
That week worked wonders! The sense of not being constantly needed, along with the sights and sounds of the horses running under the eternal South Dakota sky. Riding with Dayton through wide-open miles, stopping only to break apart another bale of hay for the beauties he loved. It restored my energy and my faith in me.
Since then, the documentary you can click on below was made about the life of this awesome cowboy — friend to the land, the horses, and native Americans. It’s quite interesting.
When I originally shared this adventure in a CNews a few years back, Cardie Lyn Dorenzo left the comment, “I loved this story for several reasons. I helped my husband care for his mother in her own home before she died at the age of 100. Yes, life took a back seat to her phone calls, night or day, and responsibilities. And I, too, own a business; thankfully, not a start-up, it’s been going for 33 years. It is caring for more than 40 people with dementia, and the same number of staff for two assisted living homes and a day program. Like you, I knew that horses would help me manage stress. So, we rescued two old horses. I don’t ride them; just love on them. Whether it’s horses or being in nature or watching good movies — whatever helps one “renew” — go for it. And send friends Cardthartic cards!!”
Sounds like a good weekend plan to me. Here’s to turning off the news and filling back up again.
Jodee Stevens
Founder & Chief Creative
Whether you are young person or a senior as I am maintaining the joy in your life and living by his quote ‘And there are a lot of stories in my life yet untold’ is the way to go until your very last breath. Seize the day every day.
Loved that you used the card that Candy found just the right words to go with the picture. I’m so impressed that you went on such an awesome adventure. Hopefully I won’t shock readers, but we just finished watching the series Sex Education on Netflix and one of the characters learns to conquer his fear of horses and find great comfort in hugging them. Sending hugs to all cardies out there who are finding the state of our world right now too tough to bear.