May 24, 2007 Last night I found a place to park my RV in the little town with 274 people. When I started my journey I found a book in the RV that my parents had left in there. I read it and it was about a cowboy in

Idaho who was approached by a man and his daughter to guide them on a hunting trip for Bighorn Sheep. And here I am in this tiny little town called …… Bighorn.

 Yesterday I had prayed that it would be nice weather today as it had been raining and was very cold the past few days. And my prayers had been heard for when I woke up this morning the sun was shining. Yes, it was going to be another beautiful day. I wanted to do some writing but I needed power for my computer so I decided to have breakfast at the local shop called Bighorn Mercantile. This building was build in 1882 and still has this old flavor to it. In the past it sold everything from food, tools, clothing, fabric and it was the post office too. They still have the little stamp window there and this was used for the movie “Wild Horses” with Kenny Rogers. There used to be a dance hall upstairs and they still have the ticket from the first dance ball that was held there in 1882. The entry fee was $5, - This included supper. Five dollars was a lot of money in that time. Now 150 years later it is a restaurant, gift shop, grocery story, and post office all at once. I love these small towns that still have a lot of history. 

When I walked in I saw one of the ladies that I had met at the school yesterday. There was a man with a young boy sitting at one of the tables having breakfast. I ordered an omelet sandwich and sat down to do a lot of writing as I really needed to catch up. The lady behind the counter asked me where I was from. When I answered, she asked me what I was doing here so I told her the story.The man that was sitting at the table asked if I were the Dutch girl. When I said yes, he told me that his girlfriend was Vicky Cain. When I was at the visitor’s center asking for a ranch where I could stay, the lady that made the phone calls also called Vicky and I had a chance to talk to here. She told me that her boyfriend was a horse dentist and had just written. I was suppose to have lunch with them yesterday but couldn’t because I was at the school. So now I met this man, Sam Morton and his son Robert here in this shop. Yes, it is a small town and a small world!  Sam gave me his book called Where the Rivers run north. This book will be released in July. I am looking forward to reading all about the horses in this area. Last night I went for a walk through this beautiful area and connected with a lovely horse that took the time to let me love him for a little while. Horses are so special to me. First of all, I was named after a horse. My parent’s very first horse was called Simone. After she died, I was born and as my parents really loved this horse and they liked the name, they decided to give this name to me. My parents had trotting horses and I sat on my first horse Magnifique when I was about two years old. For my sixth birthday I got my first pony Binky. He stayed with us till he died at the age of 27. When I grew too tall to ride Binky, I got my first horse Volomite. He was a bit to much for me and threw me of a lot. After a bad fall and injuring my neck we decided to sell him. We then bought Odila and she was my most special horse. I was 16 when I got her and she was my best friend. We would play together and every time I felt sad, I would go to her stable, put my arms around her neck and she would put her head on my shoulder. She was my great comfort and I loved her dearly. Sometimes she would lie down and I would lay down with her with my head on her neck. Unfortunately she got cancer in her uterus and the vet told me that she needed to be put down. I cried many many nights and felt so angry. I was going to lose my best friend. It was my decision as to when she was going to be put down but I just couldn’t make it. At one point the vet said that if I didn’t do it soon, I might find her dead in the stables and then she needed to be hauled out and this was something that was horrible to see. I remember that I hardly slept after he first told me she had cancer and needed to be put down. One night I knew I had to make the decision and after I did this, a feeling of peace came over me and I fell a sleep. When it was time to bring her to the abattoir, I decided to come with her. We went for a last walk and she eat and eat grass like if she knew that it was going to be the last she would have. Normally she didn’t like going on the truck and it always took me a while to get her on. This time, she walked right in. She knew and she was not sad about it. This gave me some comfort but it still was one of the hardest things to do. Besides the death of my first cat Snoopy, this was the first real experience I had with losing a loved one. It had a huge impact on my life and now looking back, prepared me for what was to come in the future. After Odila I didn’t have a horse for a while but the passion for riding was still in my veins so I bought Isostar. With him I did a lot of competing in dressage and we did well. Almost every time we would come home with trofees. This amazing 17.1 hands horse taught me a lot. He was not a hugger like Odila. He pretended that he was to macho to be kissed by me. I had him till Nico and I immigrated to

New Zealand in 1993. He was 21 by then and too old to take to the other side of the world so I found a wonderful home for him with a young girl who loved him very much.

 In

New Zealand we got some young horses and I was riding a Trakehner stallion called Lowenhertz. He was 18 hands but the sweetest and most gentle stallion I had ever met.

After a number of years competing in dressage, I didn’t enjoy the competing anymore. I was too competitive and had lost the true joy of riding so I sold all my dressage horses and bought a young quarter horse Bowdie. With him I could connect with nature while riding in the forest. He was sold when I moved back to the

Netherlands and that was the end of my riding. This was seven years ago. In the last couple of months I felt this longing to be on a horse again and I hope to do some great riding here in

Wyoming.