We're in Western Horseman Magazine!

If you would have told seven year old Lacy that one day she would be in Western Horseman Magazine, I would have not believed you.  Maybe.....as an artist with a drawing...but not with my equines.

I have been 'horse crazy' as long as I can remember, pointing out every single one I saw, talking about them constantly, driving my entire family up the wall with my obsession.

When I was a little girl, I had a lady in my life that I refer to as my nanny.  She isn't related to us, she happen to come upon my single father in a point in his life where he needed help with his two little girls he was raising alone.  She quickly became our daily caregiver when my dad needed help, which was frequently being a farmer in Western Kansas. She quickly developed deep bonds with my older sister and I. She supported and encouraged in every way as we grew up. 

My nanny was my biggest cheerleader for my love of horses. She encouraged my drawing, helping me learn how to enter drawings in the local county fair.   She set up rides with local farmers that had horses so that I had a chance to interact with them every summer in Kansas.  She even let me keep a ranchers horse in her yard for the summer one year!  Once we learned about Western Horseman Magazine, she immediately got me a subscription.  I read, studied, used many of the images for inspiration for drawings from 1993 to 2008.  I daydreamed constantly about having my own horse through the pages of this magazine. 

I'm happy to say my relationship with my nanny continued well into adult hood, until the day she passed in 2016.  My sister and I miss her dearly. I'm sure she would have been very proud of the burros and I.   I still have almost every issue, much to my husbands dismay every time he has to move one of the totes. Someday I'll have them on a shelf ready to be enjoyed again. And maybe someday I'll get that horse.

To Mary Ann Dodson, Thank you for being a bright light in a horse crazy little girls life.  And to Western Horseman for bringing a full circle moment to my life.  
Thank you!

May you all have a Mary in your life!

p.s. go get a copy! thank you to all the photographers that allowed me to submit their work for use in the issue.
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