Page 22 - NMHBA_FALL2021

Grati
Iby Alicia Davenport
magine moving from the big city to the outskirts of Albuquerque. Now imagine working in payroll for Kaiser Permanente
and dealing in numbers and spreadsheets for days on end. Now imagine starting a new job with the New Mexico Horse Breeders’ Association! I have never been to a horse farm. I have never been to a horse racetrack nor a horse race. I wanted a new life.
Boy! Did I get one!
I was so excited to work with
Mary and Paulette in a small office and deal with people every day.
I could not have been happier. Well, I was until I realized I
knew NOTHING about horse breeding nor horse racing. And there is SO much to learn. I may have mentioned this about a million times a day when
I first started here. My co- worker, Paulette Taylor and her wonderful husband Jay, offered to show me around their farm so I could get an idea of what I am getting myself involved in.
Imagine my surprise and
joy when that tour of their
farm morphed into a day
with them at their farm and other farms, too! And they invited my friend, Dave, along as well just for good measure.
We arrived at 8 a.m. sharp on
a glorious day, and Paulette was outside awaiting our arrival with a warm welcome. Jay introduced us to Awesome Indian and told us about breeding a Thoroughbred stud. Since they keep the broodmares just down the street, I got to sit in the back of the ATV (“the go-go”) as we rode the short distance over to visit them and
tude
20 New Mexico Horse Breeder
Alicia & Big Daddy Cartel