56/ FEBRUARY 2013 THE RIDER What It’s All About THIS is By Teri Davidson.


Out for a morning walk on our seventy five acres this morning gave me time to reflect upon my life and the things that bring me joy. As I crunched along in the snow, the dogs playing and running beside me, I looked around at all of natures splendor. I could see the awesome sky, blue , grey and white stretching out above me , back to our forest and then disappearing as the trees blocked the continuing view. As I approached the pond four mallard ducks flew , honing into that same sky and off to an adjoining pond on our neighbours field. The old page fencing that separates our properties was put up over fifty years ago to separate the


neighbours lands from ours and I pause to think about the harder life farmers had back then and how many hours a good man or two spent stringing the wire to keep his cows in. we have good soil here, a sandy loam so this long ago farmer would have enjoyed good yield with his crops and a softer soil to work his crop seed into the ground and tilling would have been simpler. We have a lot of sandy areas so when we built our indoor arena we were very blessed in not having to bring in any sand to form a base for the horses to ride in. A lot of times I will find broken pieces of clay pots, dishes and glass- ware that comes up out of the ground whenever the dry days make everything dusty during the summer. These are the remnants of families who lived here many years ago and probably used some of the area around the big old 1861 Homestead as their burn pile for garbage. I pick each piece up and turn it all around in my hands trying to figure out what it was part of and how those families lived all those years ago. I use


the memories of my own long gone rel- atives who lived and worked our family farm back in Whitevale and the memo- ries I still have from being a very young child growing up on that dairy farm back in the 1950’s.


I admire the black and white pine board and batton old barns we have here which are still in excellent condi- tion. They used to be painted a bright yellow before they changed to black many years ago and so I think it is appropriate that we build our new steel barn and arena with black sides, white trim and a big yellow roof. Someone up there would be proud to see their yel- low back again! A lot of our fences are still standing after 20 + years, the oak board ones , put up by Entz fence so many years ago. They are still our fence builders today. Quality that has stood the test of time.


I think about the feet that have walked these lands, remember my own children laughing and running across the courtyard. My son filming his child- hood movies here. My daughter and her


father riding off into the fields together, working their horses in the outdoor and arena each one telling the other how to ride, both getting testy about the advice from each other. I remember my daugh- ter yelling out instructions to me how to ride, “keep those heels down, sit back , let go of the reins!..” as she stood, 12 years old and 4’8 :” tall in the middle of the same arena thinking she was my coach.


I look at the horses in their pad- docks and walk past them munching on their hay this cold morning and enjoy hearing them nicker to me as I pass. I remember gathering apples from those old apple trees out in the front orchard and the time the four cars stopped out front and a whole family of children, adults and babies stopped out front, laid down their blan- kets and enjoyed a


picnic lunch thinking our front orchard was a public park. How we laughed! Tears come to my eyes as I pic- ture a regal, majestic, brilliantly colored black and red shepherd running ahead of me on these fields and turning back to look over her shoulder to make sure I am keeping up. I remember my dad and I walking around the gardens talking about the raspberries and the flowers and the great dinner we had just enjoyed as a family. Both so much loved and gone now from my life here at the farm but always in my heart. And I remember this is why I worked so hard and continue to ..to be able to come home at the end of every day to my home, my cherished farm and my memories.


Teri Davidson is Broker /Owner of Associate Realty Brantford Inc. and has been a licensed realtor for 36 years. Teri and her family also own and oper- ate “White House Farms” in Ancaster, Ont. where they breed and raise Quarter Horses, Paints and King Sized Regis- tered Long Haired German Shephard dogs. Contact Teri at teridavidson@rogers.com


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