CAN I BLAME it on email?
Previously, I’d reported my neighbor and horse trainer Jeanne Wolfe Johnson was moving back to Sequim after spending a year training at a private stable in Oklahoma.
I’d heard she was coming back to Sequim, so I wrote Jeanne and asked.
She wrote back and confirmed she was coming here the end of December.
She also was going to be hosting a performance horse clinic with her husband, Larry Johnson, and mentioned her excitement about getting her own business up and running again.
So, here’s where I went wrong: I assumed she meant running her business in Sequim.
In for a visit
Actually, she was just in the area a few days to visit friends and hold the clinic.
She was thrilled about opening her own training barn of Jeanne Johnson Show Horses at a facility in Oklahoma, not Sequim.
It was pouring rain the day of the clinic Dec. 31.
While riders and horses did have the benefit of being under Baker Stables’ covered arena in Port Angeles, the air underneath was bone-chillingly damp and so cold the vapor from our breath hung in the air.
Although the stable had a wonderfully warm fire, drinks and goodies to eat inside its clubhouse — with ample seating for spectators to view the action inside the arena — I stood outside to catch the local news from high school equestrian team coach Terry Johnson (no relation), Crystal Braise and Nancy Johnson (Larry’s ex-wife twice over).
Nancy is a close friend of Larry and Jeannie and actually organized the clinic.
When I arrived, Larry was in the process of fine-tuning Nancy’s own horse in reining.
Later, she took a reining lesson from Larry.
She said the clinic was a “great success” with a full schedule of eight students each for Larry and Jeanne.
Larry competes with and trains reining horses while Jeanne provides basic lessons and specializes in performance show horse training.
By the way, though at first Larry, a commercial roofer, stayed in Sequim, a few months ago, he joined Jeanne and their adorable little blond-haired son, Derek, 2, in Oklahoma, where Larry is project manager for a large roofing company.
A big perk: Working for someone else, he now has health benefits and a 401(k).
4-H group to continue
Jeanne’s 4-H group, Mane Attraction, will continue under co-leaders Nancy and Crystal, who are very hopeful the Johnsons will be moving back to Sequim soon.
I, however, am doubtful they will move back.
Jeanne and I both share a disdain for cold and damp weather.
On the day of the clinic, she was bragging it was 75 degrees, sunny and warm in Oklahoma, and despite the occasional tornado, “I’m surrounded by horse people, big shows, and I love it there.”
Lenee Langdon was tickled pink her daughter, Faith, was able to get a lesson from Jeanne.
Her daughter had been riding a pony but had just gotten her dream horse, a blue-roan, 3-year-old quarter horse named Daisy.
“I’ve never loped her yet,” said the helmet-clad Faith, “but I want to.”
Then Jeanne asked Faith to trot in a circle around her.
A nervous watcher
While Faith’s mother, Lenee, was standing by nervously watching — and sporting a broken right wrist from falling off the mounting block while attempting to get on her own horse — Faith unknowingly gave the well-trained Daisy the cue to lope, which she did to the opposite end of the arena before stopping.
A glowing Faith said, “That was fun.”
“And now,” chuckled Jeanne, “we’re going to learn how to cue her correctly.”
Events
■ 10 a.m. Saturday — Games and play day at Freedom Farm, 493 Spring Road in Port Angeles.
■ 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday — Jefferson Equestrian Association’s annual meeting at the Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar Ave., Port Hadlock. For more information, visit www.jeffersonequestrian.org.
■ Noon to 3 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22 — Cow working at Freedom Farm. No worries about the weather because it has an indoor arena.
■ Saturday, Jan. 28 — Jumper Clinic at Freedom Farm. Contact Mary Gallagher at 360-457-4897 or freedomf@olypen.com.
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Karen Griffiths’ column, Peninsula Horseplay, appears every other Wednesday.
If you have a horse event, clinic or seminar you would like listed, please email Griffiths at kbg@olympus.net at least two weeks in advance. You can also write Griffiths at PDN, P.O. Box 1330, Port Angeles, WA 98362.
