b'Welcome our New Herald Committee MemberBy Joni SherwoodIt was love at first sight and a 180 degree lifestyle about-facethats the power of meeting my first Fjord at the age of 54.Horses came into my life as a Brownie while earning my horseback riding badge. Two years later my Mom and Dad gave in and gave me a Welsh/Shetland pony for Christmas. Two years after that I was riding my OTTB in Hunters on the West Coast circuit. Three years later, my life came to a screeching halt as my Dad handed me a tennis racket and told me it was time to do something more like the family. We lived on the bayfrontinNewportBeachwheremostkidsweresailors, surfers or tennis players.College, marriage to a fellow USC Trojan, three children and life in suburbia followed along with a move from my native Southern California to Colorado (1988). As the kids graduated from college and married, we began to wonder about the next chapter. Then, out of the blue, I was asked to chaperone a class of kindergartners to the 2013 Denver Stock Show. Of course I snuck my three little charges into the stables! It was there that I was introduced to a horse I had never laid eyes on and knew PC: Rusty Sherwood I needed in my lifethe golden retriever of the horse world, she said when I asked what I was looking at.Within three months it was goodbye suburbia, hello country life. We found a 10-acre property in Castle Rock, May of 2013, and began the journey of our lives restoring, reclaiming and renovating it. The 3-horse barn was the only decent building on the property. We moved into the house in August of 2014 and on New Years Eve I began looking online for three Fjord geldings. My dream was to share them with young girls in a beautiful settingcounter the technology trap that so many were falling into. My search landed me on Spruce Hill Martin, andalinkconnectedmetotwomore:SpruceHillEddie andFrank,thatwerelocatedinMontanathroughWendy Bauwens. On January 9 we purchased all three! On March 19, 2015 they were delivered to our doorstep.PC: Staci Zohlen Photography Forty years between horse ownership. As my Mom exclaimed when she came out to see us, This is so you! Ive never felt more at home as I do in the barn with The Boys. They are great teachers, excellent listeners, best friends and adventure partners. I cannot imagine a better life. Sadly, I lost Spruce Hill Martin to a 4 inch tear in his small intestine on June 10, 2022. It remains the most painful heartbreak of my life. Eddie, Frank, my two barn cats, Ruby and Tangi, and I are negotiating life without our alpha. I am incredibly blessed and thank God every day for the joy that I experience with them. It delights me the most to share them with others, especially our growing family.Joni enjoys serving on The Herald committee.She earned her BA degree in Journalism from University of Southern California.PC: Rusty SherwoodFjord Herald Issue #147Summer 2023 13'