Beginning of the end

The signs arrived on Thursday.

The hanging process was well underway by the time I pulled into the parking lot on Friday.

Heavy sigh.

Even though I knew it was coming, I was not prepared.

I opted out of hanging signs, choosing instead to help customers.

Tack shops are a business, but they are also a hub for the local equestrian community. 

On this day, the community came out in force to express their shock and sadness. The phone rang non-stop. Tears were shed, and not just by the staff.

I spent the entire day having the same conversations over and over again. 

Not just our store, the whole company. Yes, even the website. Catalog, too. All of it. Nothing to do with profitability. Private equity. Leverage. Extract. Exit. Use your gift cards. They expire May 29. No more USEF or military discounts. No Rider Rewards either. No closing day set. About sixty days. We don't know. It's all in the hands of the liquidation company. We don't know.

Despite everything, I remain committed to this job and this community. Even though it’s hard, I plan to stick it out to the bitter end. Most of my coworkers feel the same way. If you shop at Dover Saddlery in the next sixty days, please be nice to the employees. We are trying really hard, and this isn’t our fault.

Errands and coping

Carol's Tuesday morning flight from Munich to Washington DC was cancelled, so she decided to reroute through Denver.

I picked her up at the airport after work. Instead of going straight home, we stopped at Senor Rics for drinks, queso and lots and lots of talk.

As luck would have it, I was not have to work the next day. However, I did have a full schedule of errands, some of which were not optional and also not fun. I apologized to Carol and told her she was not obligated to spend the day with me.

She was having none of that. 

"We'll make it fun," she said.  

And we did.

Errand number one was taking Piper to the vet for some diagnostic work. Don't worry, she's fine. We're just being proactive.

After the appointment, we dropped Piper off at home and took the car to the tire shop for a repair.

While we were waiting, we walked to a nearby antiques mall.

We spent a fun hour perusing the wares and looking for horses.

Happily, they were plentiful.

We also found a lot of real horse tack.

I did buy a saddle this week, but not this one.

After the tire was fixed - let's hope it stays fixed this time! - we went grocery shopping.

We swung by the house to unload the food, then it was on to the barn!

Karen had turned everyone out earlier, so I took advantage of the Sage-free time to give her stall an extra good cleaning.

When that was done, we visited the foal, who is now named Daktari.

Then it was time to bring in the horses. Ladies first.

Then Kaffi.

It was around this time when the big work bomb dropped.

Everything came to a screeching halt. My phone was pinging non-stop with messages from co-workers. Carol and I went back to the house. I spent the rest of the day trying to cope. 

The next morning, I dropped Carol off at the airport.

This wasn't one of our fun-filled adventure outings, but that's okay. What I needed on this day was someone to make errands fun and someone to help me cope.

The rollercoaster

If you had asked me earlier what I thought this week would bring, I would have said a little bit of this...

and a whole lot of this...

and this.

I didn't foresee this all.

Unfortunately, this has been a long time coming.

But also, I can't talk about that yet.

Maybe later, when things are more settled, but not right now.

What I can say is the last couple of days have been a rollercoaster.

The good parts have been really good.

And I guess the rest of it will sort itself out, one way or the other.

Mother's Day 2026

I work in a store filled with women, all of whom are daughters and most of whom are mothers. No one wants to work on Mother's Day.

No one.

I didn't want to work on Mother's Day either, but sometimes you've got to take one for the team. 

The store closes at 6. 

Ar 6:01 I was out the door and down the road. I stopped by my house long enough to change my shoes and pick up Seth and the dogs. 

Then it was straight to the barn for the first barn beers of 2026.

James could not make it, but Ryan and Sarah were there.

There was a point in time when I had one pony and three dogs. Their names were Darcy, Olive, Piper and Emma. Ryan called them the DOPE gang. I loved that, and I always meant to get professional photos of me and the DOPErs. 

I waited too long. That didn't happen.

Now it's EPS.

These pictures are a little chaotic and not at all professional.

That's okay. I like chaos.

I also like my kids.

And my husband, too.

Happy Mother's Day, y'all!

29

As of today, Seth and I have been married for twenty nine years.

I hadn't planned to mention the anniversary here - I usually don't - but then I found this envelope during yesterday's big search and scan operation.

I flipped through the photos and thought, as I so often do, "This feels like a blog post."

It is, in fact, a funny story. 

Seth and I had been engaged for a while, but wedding planning was not our forte. We didn't have a vision - or  the funds - for what we wanted to do, so we kept putting it off further and further into the future.

Then one day, Seth went to the DMV to renew his car registration. He came back with an application for a marriage license.

"Jennifer! Jennifer!" he called excitedly as he walked through the front door. "If we fill this out today, we have thirty days to tie the knot. Will you elope with me?"

I didn't need a lot of convincing. We signed and filed the papers and started planning a no-fuss, just-us, courthouse ceremony.

Then Seth told his parents. 

Immediately, they said, "We're coming."

Of course, then I had to tell my parents, who also said, "We're coming."

After that, the floodgates were open. Siblings and friends were told. More travel plans were made.

And just like that, we were back to wedding planning, but now on a ridiculously tight timeframe. It was chaos, but also it worked out just fine.

We said our vows at the Shelby County Courthouse in Memphis, Tennessee. The officiating judge told Seth he needed to salute me every day. 

That has not happened.

After, we had a small reception at the nearby Convention Center.

Despite everything, it was a proper reception with flowers, cake and lots of drinks.

There were also a surprising amount of gifts.

My mom's co-worker, Jun - who I never met - gave us a pair of Chinese horses. If you've been to my house, you've probably seen them. They live on the high shelf in my kitchen.

This was the only time our parents ever met. Our fathers - both named Tom - got along fine. Our mothers - Jeanne and Chloe Jean - didn't like each other.

The other guests included my sister, Erin, 

my best friend, Trisha,

Seth's brother, Jason and his then-wife, Cindy, and our Memphis friends, Warren and Shannon Perry.

Warren died in 2019. I still think of him often.

Of course, I think of my Dad, too. 

And Seth's mom.

It wasn't the most conventional wedding, but clearly it worked for us. 

It's been twenty nine years of mountain bikes, dogs, horses, birds, rats, fish, model horses, apartments, duplexes, houses, so many cars, one motorcylcle and thousands of blog posts. Here's looking forward to whatever comes next!