Braymere Custom Saddlery: Confessions and adventures

Sunday, May 17, 2026

Confessions and adventures

The original plan for this year was for Karen and I to go on another international riding adventure in September. Unfortunately, things have gone a little sideways for both of us. Never say never, but that probably isn't going to happen.

It's okay.

We have Carol to take up the slack.

While she was here this week, she was telling me all about her fun ride in Cádiz, Spain. I said, "This feels like a blog post."

And now it is.

Thank you, Carol. You're the best.

Confessions and Adventures of a Non Horse Obsessed Friend

by Carol Buetel

I have a confession to make, and hopefully it won’t stop you from reading until the end: I am not now nor have I ever been horse obsessed.

As a child, I was around horses occasionally. I even went on a few pony rides. They were okay, but they did not turn me into a horse obsessed person like my daughter...

and my best friend.

Those two are horse crazy!

Which, actually, is how I became Jennifer's best friend.

My daughter always loved horses. She drew pictures,

wrote stories...

and always wanted to be around them.

When I first met Jennifer, she told me her boys were more interested in playing in the dirt than riding horses. I begged her to take my daughter and leave the boys with me anytime she wanted. She took me up on that!

We eventually discovered we had other interests including dogs, reading and adventuring out with the kids.

But always, there were horses.

So I adapted.

I took riding lessons...

and went to tack shops.

I spent a lot of time at the barn.

I even part leased a horse for a little while!

I moved away from Colorado in 2018, but still there were horses.. Every time I saw one, I would inundate Jennifer’s inbox with pictures and stories. She always responded, "Yay! Jealous!"

riding in Croatia

Of course, I also came back to Colorado whenever I could to spend time with Jennifer and her family.

one year ago yesterday!

Including the horse.

Last year I retired, and since then, I have travelled the world: Ireland, South Africa, Europe and all over the US.

I have made several trips to Colorado and each time I try to talk Jennifer into joining me on another big adventure.The timing is never right, so instead she gets to hear all about my adventures and receive lots of photos.

The latest was from my transAtlantic cruise and return to Germany.

I met many new friends on the cruise including two women who shared my name. For the rest of the trip, we were known as “ the Carols”.

While we were discussing our shore excursion plan, the eldest Carol mentioned she was going horseback riding in Cádiz, Spain. I quickly found the excursion desk and added myself to that excursion.

I’m so glad I did.

This was one of the best purchased trail rides I’ve ever experienced, and I have had many all over the world.

The horses were well cared for and the staff took very good care of us!

Some of the horse names were Spirit, Nueva and Margarita. Africana was my horse.

The saddles were English but surprisingly comfortable. The helmet selection was also great and I was very happy to find one that fit well and didn’t hurt my head.