Happy memories, stored deep in the heart of her three-year-old self. She smiles as she remembers her kind and gentle horse, Daisy, and recalls how she, as just a squirt of a girl, sat so proudly on the back of her big chestnut, Thoroughbred mare.
And she remembers her heartbreak when her injured father announced he’d sold the chestnut she-devil that had pitched him to the unyielding turf.
Sometimes life is merciful. Sometimes it allows our desperate need for a horse to abate to a slumber. So it was with Judy Aldrich. She moved on. She started and finished school, began her career with an airline, and got married. Life was good. A long-anticipated move to the country was finally a reality.
Of course, that’s when the inevitable happened. Her new neighbor’s playful colt poked the sleeping giant. Judy’s journey down a long, fulfilling trail began with Red Cloud, a sorrel colt bred for cutting.
For years Judy rode and competed, and along the way she discovered her true love; breeding and raising cutting horses. She studied bloodlines and researched performance records. She tested her knowledge every time she selected a stallion for one of her broodmares. Could she produce a better athlete, a horse with a good mind, sound body, and the heart to perform?
With their soulful wide-eyed gaze, playful antics, and spunky curiosity, foals are the embodiment of our hopes and dreams. They remind us of all that is good in our world; all that is possible.
Judy Aldrich
