Linda Hanchey, Author
. I am in my 70’s. I’m told I don’t act my age. How are you supposed to act, I ask. I didn’t get trained for this age so I will continue to keep going like I am. I read this quote and it resonated with me. “Chase your dream not perfection.” That pretty much sums my life up. I have had lots of dreams. Along with that many outstanding experiences. Let me share with you some of my life experiences.
I am a mother, grandmother, great grandmother. I am a wife. I have always loved horses. Born that way. I have won dance contests, been a rodeo queen, done cowboy mounted shooting. Been bucked, kicked and ridden some nice horses. My husband and I have bred, raised and trained colts. I graduated from college in my 40’s and taught in public schools’ children with disabilities. In addition, opened a riding school and a handicap riding program and did that for many years. Then in my 60’s we retired my husband and I moved to the mountains to ride horses in the national forests. After we moved to the mountains, at the age of 68 I went back to college to get my horse judging license. Even now in my 70’s I judge horse events. Still looking for my next challenge and not ready to sit in my rocking chair, I decided to write my first book. As a girl growing up, we didn’t have horses. My parents weren’t horse people. There were no horses anywhere nearby. Books became my reality. Every book I could find I would devour. In a book I could ride as fast as the wind, jump as high as a mountain, and have wild adventures. It had to do until I was old enough to find them outside the books I was reading. The library never had enough books to satisfy the longing. I can remember the dreams that came with each book I read. Today I am writing a book for, that girl or boy who has this same longing, who loves horses so bad it hurts. I understand. I was that girl.
Let me leave you with this. Follow your dream no matter your age. It is so worth the challenge to do something you long to do or try something new. Go for it. You may not be the best, but you will be the best version of yourself.