When I first read this story, back in the 80s, I had no idea that I would one day take this advice to heart. All I knew was that Cooky McClung was my hero: a woman who could hunt, have a family and still get Thanksgiving dinner on the table. Reading her column in the Chronicle of the Horse was one of the highlights of my week and was always the first part of the magazine that I read. As a kid growing up in New York City, her life was so far from what I could imagine that it was like good fiction.

Who knew that someday I’d be juggling Thanksgiving dinner with a Thanksgiving hunt. This year I didn’t hunt — in fact, our hunt was cancelled due to the heavy rains yesterday — but the past two years I’ve taken her advice to heart.

For those of you not familiar with Cooky’s writing, I urge you to seek out her books “Horse Folk are Different” and “Horse Folk are Still Different” which are guaranteed to make me laugh no matter what my mood.

Happy Thanksgiving!