Clothes Horse
May 18, 2009
It’s kind of hard to hide who I am (not that I’d want to!)
Holly Clanahan
OK, so the headline may be a bit misleading. A clothes horse, in the conventional definition of the phrase, I am not. An embarassingly high percentage of my wardrobe could be politely described as “barn chic.” But even the dressier articles of clothing have a certain je na sais equi – usually embellished with a horse-pendant necklace or a horseshoe-nail ring.
The casual clothing, well, it’s not nearly so subtle. AQHA-logoed apparel (Hey, I like it; what can I say?) is pretty darned plentiful in my closet, and I’ve been teased about being a walking billboard for the Association. (There are worse things to advertise, right?)
But what’s interesting is the comments it generates from total strangers – both horse people who recognize a kindred soul and non-horse people who have – or wish they had – a connection with our magnificent animal.
Just yesterday, I was asked, “Are you a cowgirl?” I grinned, since that’s not how I’d normally describe myself. A dressage saddle and tall boots are actually my preferred accoutrements, but to most people, that’s splitting hairs. Horse girls are cowgirls. “Yeah, I guess so,” I answered, still smiling. My new friend went on to tell me about his past as a custom bootmaker and then later as a boot store owner in western Oklahoma. We’d made a connection.
Another query came yesterday: “Are you into horses?” That one was an easy answer: “Yep!” She went on to talk about going to the National Finals Rodeo as a child when it was held in Oklahoma City. My parents had taken me there, too, so we had a shared experience, and we commiserated about the rodeo’s move to Las Vegas, out of our reach, in 1985. She had tales, too, of seeing Roy Rogers and Dale Evans perform with their horses, Trigger and Buttermilk. She wasn’t a horse person, but she felt the same pull I do.
There have been countless other conversations started by a horse shirt here, a belt buckle there, but those two were of special importance. They occurred in my dad’s hospital room, a place normally populated by competent-but-impersonal medical professionals. Horses had broken down the barriers and given both me and my dad a much-missed taste of home.
The former boot-store owner went on to talk about growing up on his family’s farm, where he had to clean out hog pens with a Bobcat, instead of the hands-off methods that are used on big hog farms now. My dad, who grew up in the Depression era caring for his family’s livestock, chuckled. “The only difference between you and me,” he said, “is that I didn’t have a Bobcat.”
Today, I’m wearing a long-sleeved T-shirt from the AQHA World Show. We’ll see what dialogues that opens up …
Happy riding!
Holly Clanahan
Editor, America’s Horse magazine
Don’t miss the fun, educational and heart-warming stories in the print version of America’s Horse! It goes to all members of the American Quarter Horse Association, and it’ll also keep you in the loop on Association news. We want you to belong!
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May 18th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
I was in the rest room at a truck stop in Elk City, Ok on the way home from a cutting. A lady from California asked if I was wearing spurs for fashion or for a reason. She had never seen anyone wear spurs. Something I see daily, she had never seen in real life. I wonder if she noticed that I drove off in a dually pulling a horse trailer with my horses in it.
May 19th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Hey Holly! Nice Flying B horse ya got posing with ya there! When was that pic taken?
May 19th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
Hi Emily!
Yes, it is a nice horse! It’s just too bad that it’s not mine!
Believe it or not, of all the trillion photos I have of my horses … I didn’t have a nice one that also included me. I’m usually *behind* the camera! So when it came time to find a photo for this blog, this one was my best option. It came from a photo shoot we did for a Journal story at Teddy Johnson’s. Teddy had given me a cutting lesson and let me ride a couple of his good cutting horses. This big gelding was amazing! Unfortunately, he didn’t fit in the back seat of my car, or he sure could’ve gone home with me!
May 20th, 2009 at 8:06 am
I understand never being in front of the camera!
I remember that article of you cutting but missed the flying B then! You had some great shots taken of you that day! I bet that was fun!
Have a great day!
(@ausunshine)
May 20th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Oh *you’re* @ausunshine!! Sorry, sometimes it takes me a bit to make connections!
To everybody else, if you’re not on Twitter, you’re missing out on a lot of horsey fun! I’m @larkit, and AQHA is all over the place — @aqha and @americashorse!!
It’s twitter.com!
May 21st, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Holly! Yes one in the same! I am also the same Emily that worked at Bartlett ranch when you came in 2001 to see the sale fillies that I was in charge of. Of course that was before I was married. Maiden name was Starkey now Peak.Small world!
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:03 am
Hi Emily!
I do remember you! And yes, it’s funny how small the horse world is. You know the “six degrees of separation” theory? For our little world, it’s gotta be more like three or four degrees, maximum!!
May 24th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I am from Oklahoma where cowboy duds and spurs are the norm. My Husband moved me to Indiana and for years I felt like a duck out of water. Then I decided – this is who I am – this is the way I dress and feel comfortable and they would have to get used to it. Once I got over being uneasy around these Hoosiers they began to get pretty friendly and now my cowboy duds are no big deal and I get lots of compliments on my AQHA wear too. Even my Pastor told me today that he liked my pink AQHA shirt – so I seem to be making progress here. I have two dresses – one for weddings, baby showers, etc and one for funerals. The rest is just me. Lots of really neat conversations get started over my rhinestone belt!