Foxy Moxie Mamas

BFF riding at 6 months

“It’s getting harder and harder to put my spurs on,” she said while talking about her 8th month of pregnancy. The very quote just made me giggle inside. My first thought, “That can’t be normal! Don’t most women “that” pregnant complain about water retention, back aches, and everything else?” Well that may be the case with other women, but the gals I hang with, they don’t roll like that. Their main concern is if they still fit in the saddle and how they are going to get their spurs on. I don’t know if I found them or they found me, but my entire life I have been surrounded by these types of women. Which has left me with a challenge in the past of finding a man who is as strong as the women I’m surrounded by? I don’t mean to sound all women’s lib, but most of the gals I hang with, can not only do a women’s job, but also a man’s. Another hard thing was finding someone who was secure enough with the fact that I may not ask for help unloading ten 50 lbs bags of grain (that’s 500 lbs total), just simply because I know that I can get it done now, rather than waiting for their available help. “Easy boys, I’m not trying to take away your masculinity. I’m just trying to get the job done, so that I can go inside and cook dinner!”

My Mom during a photoshoot

Back to the Gals: My mother was one of the founding members of the United Stunt Women’s Association. She was in a lot of commercials and movies in the 70’s and 80’s. When kids at school would talk about how cool their mom was, all I had to do was ask if THEIR mom had ever jumped off a building. Yep, no one could beat that. My grandmother used to tell me stories of her childhood in El Paso and how her school teacher would keep a shotgun underneath the desk for protection just in case Pancho Villa were to invade. It doesn’t stop there, my Sister-In-Law pursued a PhD in Chemistry and maintained perfect fitness by swimming in a pool while carrying my twin nephews. I have a best friend that helped me change a tire 20 miles outside of Las Vegas, Nevada in 110 degree heat while she was 3 months pregnant. We took turns trying to break the lugs loose. She never once, not once complained, even though she wanted to sleep like 20 hours a days and was still feeling nauseous. She also ran barrels that weekend. I have another friend that wouldn’t let her husband take her to the hospital to have a baby because she needed to ride her horse first. And Another that waited a little too long and her water broke on a horse while at a roping.One of my proudest moments was also watching another one of my friends tune on a horse, drink a cocktail and discipline her kids all at the same time.  Now that’s multi-tasking. These people are amazing!