MY AMAZING GRACE
	Billie and Grace at the Dunker Church. Glory, 1988
	Amazing Grace, the Wonder Horse is; a movie star, a fearless War horse, a smart girl, & my best friend. Almost everyone, when they are young, wishes for a pony. I know I certainly did. However, I was twenty-six before that sweet dream became a reality for me. A local family in the small town in middle Tennessee where I grew up, gave my mother a twenty year old horse. Her name was Beauty. She was foundered. She was a Tennessee Walking horse. With tender love & care, my mother nursed her back to health, & in time, had her bred to a Quarter Horse. So it was, that on August 17th, 1979, Gracie was born on the family farm in Dickson, Tennessee. Mother called me at my home in Nashville & told me that the filly had foaled, so I got up early the next morning & drove to the family farm. I went to the pasture & there she was, a true bundle of charm. I picked her up & held her in my arms. So it was that the two of us began our long journey together. Since my siblings were either married or too young, Mother said that the new filly would be mine, but really, Gracie has always been a family pet. I have always been good at naming things, but all I could come up with this time was the Elton John song that goes: "Razor face, amazing grace, protect me like a glove, & I'll never know the reason why, I love my razor face." My youngest sister, Mary, said I should call her Amazing Grace. And after all, that was the best choice. That is what she has been in my life all these years. I quit my job at the car dealership & moved back to Dickson for a year to work with Gracie to get her used to humans. I did not get on her back until the day she turned three years old, not wanting her to be sway-backed, & to this day, you could have rolled a marble down her back. The first time I mounted her, it was so confusing to her that she fell down! For the next four years I spent a lot of time just going off riding with Gracie, spending time with her.
	Federal Cavalry on patrol. Roger, Tommy, Grace and I. Glory, 1988
	In 1987, the one-hundred & twenty-fifth anniversary of the American Civil War was in full swing & most of my friends were joining up with reenactment groups to be in on all the excitment. Having a seven year old horse, of course I wanted to join a Cavalry command. The only one who invited me was a Yankee group, the Seventh Illinois Cavalry from Springfield, Illinois. I hated to wear the blue suit, but I thought I would train Gracie & myself & acquire the equipment with the Seventh, & join a Confederate command afterwards. I soon learned that reenacting is not the war, & that there are never enough Federal soldiers at the events. So Gracie & I have been Western Federal Cavalry troopers ever since. Learning to ride with the cavalry, to stand the cannon & gunfire & stay in formation was quite an experance for Gracie & I, but I would hope that the two of us became good at it. While with The Seventh Illinois Cavalry the two of us had the honour of being in the movies, Rambo 3, Glory, & Son Of The Morning Star. Gracie & I have swam in the Atlantic Ocean together & climbed the rugged buttes of Montana together, & had many, many adventures together, going to over one hundred reenactments, many parades, living history & encampments. In the Nineties Gracie & I rode with the Seventh Tennessee Federal Cavalry & finally joined up with the First Alabama Federal Cavalry toward the end of that Decade.
	Sleeping in the round house. Glory, 1988
	Through the new Century Gracie has been enjoying her retirement with a warm barn, blankets for her back, plenty of sweet feed & apples, & I have been living here on the farm with her for two happy years together, helping her as best I can & it seems to me she has loved me as I have loved her. Sadly, Amazing Grace, passed away at two o'clock on a warm, rainy afternoon, Wednesday, March 19th, 2008.The two of us had the pleasure of twenty-eight years, seven months & two days together. As she had know being held in my arms when she was born, so now she died in my arms of old age. Gracie was interred here on the farm on Good Friday, surrounded by her friends & family. I suppose she and I could not have hoped for more. She will be sadly missed by all who knew her.
HOME XX BIOGRAPHY XX GRACIE XX THE BAND XX PHOTOS XX CD PURCHASEXXLINKS