I was born on a horse farm in Connecticut. I was the little girl who didn’t wish for a pony – because I had one. At some point, I had a matching chaps-and-vest set of white cowhide with big black spots, and a cowboy hat I probably could have crawled into, it was so big.
Obviously, when the Toy Story movies came out and introduced the world to Cowgirl Jessie, I had to remind people that I was the original Cowgirl Jessie.
But that was before I had a blog.
So, quite belated, but no less true, here’s photographic evidence:
I think this is circa 1978-1979, when I was six or seven. Note the aforementioned ginormous cowboy hat. Sadly, I may have outgrown that chaps-and-vest set by this age.
Note also the horse show competition number affixed to my back. My father entered me in many a “lead line” competition back then, which were basically contests for tiny kids where an adult would lead the horse around a ring with said tiny human sitting on said horse, and if the kid didn’t freak out they’d win something. I won so many blue ribbons in “lead line” competitions, I tellyouwhat…
To recap – I’m blue-ribbon good at sitting still (which is still true) and I evidently wasn’t as afraid of heights back then as I am now (AKA, that is a really tall horse).
Thanks, Mom, for sending this photo home with me.
6 comments on “The Original Cowgirl Jessie (AKA A Portrait of the Writer as a Young Horsewoman)”
This photo is too cute. I didn’t know you were the original Cowgirl Jessie. If you still ride, I’d love for you to write a guest post on http://writinghorseback.com.
Thanks, Nancy! I don’t ride on a regular basis at all now, but I *did* go on a horseback safari in South Africa in December last year – I would be more than happy to write about it for your site. ๐
I want to drive to Portland and give that girl a hug.
*mwah*
I’m so jealous. I STILL want a pony. Which is totally feasible in Cambridge where our backyard is the size of a small horse trailer…
It was awesome, but that was largely due to the fact that I didn’t really do much of the upkeep work. If you can arrange THAT, I’d say go for it. ๐