5/21/08 (wooooo whooooo, me, sam &  jane are on julie goodnight's horse master tv show today, thanks so much julie for bein' so good to me, sam, jane & our sponsors!!!!) www.juliegoodnight.com So, not sure where to start, there's been so much amazing happening here lately…sam and I are truly blessedJ  last month, sam, myself, our baby girl jane and our new, incredible friends, dave & michelle parker (incredibly talented musicians on top of being just the kindest, sweetest people you'll ever meet) all traveled up to Madison, Wisconsin for the Midwest Horse Fair www.midwesthorsefair.com …I'm not sure how else to describe it all, it was God Stuff times a gazillion!!!  The folks at the Midwest Horse Fair treated us like absolute royalty, Rhonda, Kelly, Kathy and all you beautiful hippie chic cowgirls are FANTABULOUS!!!!  THANK YOU!!!!  All you hippie chic cowboys were wonderful to us tooJ   so, you really know you're family when you can all stay in a living quarters trailer together and love each other even more after 6 days staying in close quarters and after 7 days on the road together, for the first time…awesome, I have never laughed so hard in my whole life, dave & michelle are a blast, just beautiful, real, authentic people, with integrity and grit that won't quit!!!  And, dave parker does the best Napoleon Dynamite impersonation you've ever heard, not to mention other impersonations, he's HILARIOUS!!!  And what a great singer/songwriter musician and now, cowboy church leader, amazing…he leads worship at Crosspoint Church here in Dickson, TN…me and sam and our other family, Butch Simmons, FANTABULOUS, UNBELIEVABLE drummer and all-around beautiful soul, all play together in the worship band, it's a blast and I have felt so blessed to be a part of it:-)  Michelle is so incredibly talented too, not only is she a ROCKSTAR bass player, she's a great singer and songwriter too and boy howdy can she set up the most incredible booth you've ever seen…what she did with our TT/planet cowgirl booth www.planetcowgirl.com was unbelievable…it was so wonderful to have both michelle and dave with us out there in WI, look for us all to be out on the road together across the country, we have lots of neat things scheduled…and, check out dave & michelle's band www.38acres.com and www.davidarkermusic.com and michelle's scrapbooking web site www.momentsandmemoriesbymichelle.com , you gotta see the beautiful scrap book pages she createsJ love you two!!  Here's to beautiful things to come!   On our way to the Midwest, all of us stopped of at Pard's Western Shop www.pards.com in Urbana, IL to visit our awesome friends there, mark, angie, abby and the rest of the Pard's gang…I'm still absolutely reeling over the fact that they have very, very graciously sponsored me n jane the most gorgeous reining saddle you've ever seen!!!  It's their custom Advantage model, official saddles of the NRHA, who I'm so proud to be asociated with as well…the saddle looks and feels like it was made for me & my girlJ I'm still trying to figure out how I've been so blessed and if I deserve all of this, all I can say is my Jane and my Beau keep introducing us to the most beautiful people on the planet…lots of God & Horse Stuff!!! Thanks so very much to my Pard's familyJ Also at the midwest, we were thrilled to get to re-connect with our friends ken mcnabb www.kenmcnabb.com , jimmy & kim driver www.jimmydrivertraining.com , stacy & jesse westfall www.westfallhorsemanship.com , acie johnson and kelley www.orthoflex.com (awesome, beautiful custom-made saddles for all sorts of riding disciplinesJ!!! suzanne sheppard & bob jeffreys www.twoasonehorsemanship.com , cynthia & tony and their amazing horses, blanco and the rest of their kiddos www.IMAGINE-DiscoverTheMagic.com  dr. tom tweeten www.equiscentials.com (dr. tom had jane shinin' like the diamond she is with his TLC and his incredible grooming productsJ), stephanie huss www.tackntogs.com and donna helms, www.csipads.com and so many others and if I haven't mentioned you, you know it was awesome to see you again or to meet you for the first timeJ The weekend after we were were at the Midwest, me, sam, jane, beau and my mamasita all headed out to portland, tn for a trick training clinic hosted and given by our new friend deb kelley and her ROCKSTAR friesian stallion kane, he's GORGEOUS and they were so much fun to be around…thanks so much to our friend tracy kujawa of angel heart farm for introducing us to tricia kastens who in turn introduced us to debJ  jane & beau are rockin,' I'm so proud of both of them, our ROCKSTARS!!!!  We're so blessed to have them in our livesJ!!! Since we've been home, we've been enjoying some much-needed down time, the weather's gorgeous, hay's getting cut, yeeeeeee haaaaaa and thank you God for that, here's to an abundant hay season this year and for years to come for everyone!!!  I am sad to say that we did have some very sad, heart-breaking news recently, a wonderful, incredible, beautiful man, the gifted singer/songwriter/musician/actor/comedian, Jim Hager passed away suddenly on may 1st…he was a friend and an all-around wonderful soul as is his wonderful brother, Jon…you know them as the famous Hager Twins on HEE HAW, I, like so many people out there, grew up watching them on that great show and it's been an honor to know them and to have served on the AFTRA Nashville Board with them both…please keep jon in your prayers and try, if you can, to live like jim did and how jon still does….as we were leaving jim's memorial service, jon said something like this: “be safe, try to make a difference and tell the people you love that you love them,” talk about inspiration to wanna get out there and really live it every single day and appreciate every single moment that we're alive…I am so grateful and hope that I can ever come close to bein' the kind of wonderful man that jim was and that jon is, it's an abundant universe, so, instead of being jealous, hurtful, deceitful or just plain unkind, how `bout we all do like the Hager twins and lift each other up, there is enough, there is enough…bein' nice to each other is so darn easy, lovin' each other, I think, is even easierJ On may 10th, I am so proud to say that my sweet baby girl jane and I rode in the Franklin Rodeo parade…with the incredible help of sweet Dave & Michelle, once again, we were able to get me set up to sing live from jane's back, raise money for the American Cancer Society for our part in the Equesse/hippie chic cowgirl Ride of Your Life event and were able to promote my mack daddy angel sponsors, Suncoast Bedding, without them, we wouldn't be able to do what we do, they have absolutely made this hippie chic cowgirl's dreams come true!!!!J www.suncoastbedding.com   We had a blast the next week at the Franklin Rodeo just down the road from where we live…once again, the AMAZING michelle set up a beautiful TT/planet cowgirl booth…we had too much fun and sold lots of cds &t-shirts and had lots of fun telling folks about Suncoast and our other wonderful sponsors…while we were there we met some of the sweetest, kindest people…folks involved with the franklin rotary, like Brad & Debbie Gaidos, Pat Dunn , Bill and Chris…I'm hoping that next year jane and beau and I will be performing there at the rodeo, fingers crossedJ  something super neat about the rodeo also was that it was an oficial Dodge Rodeo and, seein' as I'm already a dodge drivin' hippie chic cowgirl all because of Suncoast Bedding, I had to go meet some of the incredible folks involved in the event…I was lucky to get to meet Freddy, the most incredible pick-up man you'll ever meet, he couldn't have been nicer to me and I'll be forever grateful for his incredible, classy cowboy kindness…I sure do hope our paths cross again!!!  Those J Bar J Ranch cowboys ROCK and the rough stock was gorgeous, all ROCKSTARS in their own right…then, thanks to sweet Freddy, I got to meet Roger Mooney and his ROCKSTAR steed, Flash!!!!  It was so neat to see Roger announcing the rodeo from flash's back, LOVED that!!!  Really innovative and inspiring, he's a super-talented cowboy with a voice smooth as molasses…I'm really hoping that jane & I get to perform with him one of these days…once again, Freddy and Roger,  two of the coolest cowboys I've met in a long time!!!  Thanks for bein' so nice to usJ On Saturday afternoon, sam and jane and I headed out to angel heart farm www.angelheartfarm.net to perform a little for the kiddos that tracy is an angel for…her kids are so inspiring, battling all kinds of debilitating diseases and yet still having the incredible hutspa to ride and show their ponies…I don't know how tracy does what she does, but all I can say is it was an honor to be there, to meet some of the beautiful families that tracy and her horses help heal…the word joy comes to mind, I met the sweetest little boy there named cameron and joy is what I saw all over his beautiful face, go, cowboy, go!!!      So, there you go, that's what the t9e family's been up to (we call our place the tee-niny ranch, get it?)  we're off to the Western States Horse Expo next weekend, we'll be out there helping promote mine and jane's appearance at the Extreme Mustang Makeover Challenge in Ft. Worth, TX in September (I'm soooooo excited, that will be the first time I'll get to perform with my baby girl in my home state of TX, yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!)  until next time y'all, wishin' you lots of love, light & wings, templeton, jane & beauJ (photos from all of our adventures coming soon:-) notes from the road 3/25/08 So, lots to catch up on and to talk about…first thing, don't you just love it when someone really talented and really kind, someone who is truly authentic in what they do, has great things happen for them?  I'm with you and I'm always thrilled when good things happen for folks I am lucky to call friends…I've had a lot of friends here recently e-mailing me a video of a girl & her horse doing the extraordinary, a bareback & bridleless run to an incredible song called "live like you were dyin.'"  It's been fun to e-mail friends back and let them know that that incredible lady is my friend Stacy Westfall and to tell them how happy we are for her, for all of her success…she's the real deal and is just as beautiful inside as outJ I've had several opportunities to perform with her in the past and my husband Sam and I are very grateful to call Stacy & Jesse friends…she's a ROCKSTAR (and so is Roxy!!!) and is so incredibly deserving of all the good stuff goin' on in her life!!!  She truly is a hippie chic cowgirl!!! visit www.westfallhorsemanship.com Speakin' of hcc, lots of incredible things goin' on there for us, we've been blessed to have wonderful people come into our lives that have made it possible for this idea of ours to become something, hcc's got wings now!!…there's a lot on the horizon for us with this co., we'll be up-dating the website as things happen...it's funny how music and horses keep giving us gifts…so many people have asked me where the whole hcc idea came from and it's fun telling them that it all started probably 5 years ago or so when my hubby sam and I started out in the horse expo world with Jim Campbell's Horseman's Radio Weekly Show…from the first time I sang from horseback at the Western States Horse Expo, when Ted Robinson let me ride his awesome boy, Clyde, people started asking me why I didn't where a cowboy hat when I sang and rode…it's funny, since I'm a Texas girl and love cowboy hats, but I just tend not to wear one and when my hubby heard someone ask me that the first time, he said, in so many words, "it's because she's a hippie chic cowgirl," and it stuck and an idea was born…hcc's an incredible example of all the God Stuff in our lives, we've been very blessed and I'll tell you, we're havin' too much fun!!!  We have several new shirts in the line now and plan on doing good work with this idea, we're already finding out that it's so much bigger than us and we're very, very gratefulJ  please visit www.hippiechiccowgirl.com  we'll have our retailers listed on the site shortly…if you're in the dallas area and are a buyer, check us out at the Dallas Market 3/27-3/30. there's more, bear with me, 'cause I do tend to be long-winded:-)… a few weeks ago now,  jane and sam and I were finishing up our TV taping with Julie Goodnight down in Weirsdale, FL (right near Ocala)…Julie is using our song "cowgirl creed" as her theme song, we're very honored and excited that she's using one of our tunes, we think the world of Julie…she was very kind to include us in one of her shows, which will air sometime this summer, we'll let you know…when we talked about me appearing on an episode, Julie asked me if there was something specific I'd like to work on with jane…since jane and I are a team out there performing at horse events across the country and since I  feel like I'm always learning and am never afraid to ask for help, I told Julie I'd really like to work on neck reining with jane…I've been riding her in a wonderful snaffle bit that my incredibly talented horseman friend Ed Dabney gave me but have been feeling lately that a leverage bit, a low- key leverage bit, might be a good thing when I'm riding and singing from Jane's back, that way I'll have hands free for waving to the crowd and a little more control when we both get keyed up from performing…of course, my goal is that I won't need any tack one of these days, that I'll be able to be bareback & bridleless when I'm riding jane, but, baby steps, but here's to puttin' out into the universe what you want, it was only a short while ago that I put it out there that I wanted to take jane on the road and perform with her, under saddle and at liberty, this summer that dream came true, so it's only up from here… well, my girl Jane was a ROCKSTAR on the show even though I had to wake her up early both days that we taped, boy, 5am sure is glamorous, NOT!!!  But, she handled it all with ease and grace…she loves the bit Julie was able to get for us, a level 2 Myler bit…jane looked great, me, well, there are probably several places where some of my old riding coaches in the past would cringe, times when I was focusing so hard on what Julie was teaching me that I looked like a marionette up on my girl's back and certainly times when "velcro butt" was not happenin,' and I really pride myself on no air between derriere and saddle…but I figure, hay, what's the fun if you can't put yourself out there, laugh at yourself and all the while be learning something new that will ultimately help you and your horse…I know jane was appreciative and she sure liked Julie and I'll be the first to say that she does not like everybody, there's a short list of folks who've ridden her or just have been around her…for example, Jane LOVES, absolutely LOVES, my friend, the great Sam Powell, I've been very fortunate to spend time with Sam, to learn from him and Jane's had the gift of being ridden by him and let me tell ya, she loves him, she's so serene when he's on her back…Buck Brannaman had the same effect on my girl, when my friend Patti organized for us to ride with Buck a while back in KY, she said I should watch when we would all be sitting on our horses forming a circle around Buck during the Q & A sessions, and just watch what the horses do, “they'll gravitate to him,” she said…it was so true!!! When most folks would ask their horses to step back as they slowly inched forward to be closer to him, I gave here a couple of steps just to see, had I not finally asked her to back up, I'm pretty sure she would've been in his lapJ  when Buck put his hand on Jane's face at one point, I swear she let go of any anxiety she'd ever had, he gave her such a gift, and me too!!! pretty darn amazing, thanks Buck!  By the by, if you haven't read The Faraway Horses yet (just one of Buck's books), you gotta, you'll be so glad you did!!! So, all that to say, Jane really seemed to like Julie and that's easy to understand when you know Julie, she's a great gal, the real deal and so gifted with horses and peopleJ  her show's called Horse Master and it airs weds. at 5:30 pm est…. going to FL also gave us a chance to catch up with our wonderful friends KC & Robyn LaPierre, they're equine podiatrists, true "difference makers," helping horses and their humans all over the world!!  even though we were up early every day, it was still like a little mini-vacation, the facility was FANTASTIC as were the people who run it, they were so good to us:-) we also got a chance to visit the MTRA, www.mtraocala.org ,a wonderful therapetic riding facility in Ocala...one of the best parts of the whole shoot was having our mack daddy sponsor, Suncoast Bedding, there:-) i'm so proud and honored to be associated with this wonderful company, they are doing wonderful things for people and horses all over this beautiful world!!! i'm so proud that you'll get to see our "angel rig" on Julie's show, i shot my interview portion right in front of it... the day after we got back from FL we headed out to Murfreesboro, TN to play at the Horse South Magazine www.horsesouth.com VIP Party (you gotta get this magazine!!!!) at the incredible equine event that is The Road to the Horse...we had too much fun and met some new friends, like Larry Mahan and Vaughn Wilson (look for him to be putting out a fantastic book about people and their horses soon, Vaughn is not only an incredibly talented photographer and writer, but he's also a great singer! talk about multi-talented!!!) we also got to see and catch up with old friends like Valley Vet Supply, Rockin' J Horse Stalls, CSI Saddlepads, Absolute Innovations, Ken McNabb, Chris Cox, Rick Lamb and others, we're so incredibly blessed to know all of these beautiful souls!!! the next weekend my Mom and i headed back out to mufreesboro to check out an incredible NRHA Reining show...it was great to catch back up with friends like Shawn Flarida, Pard's Saddlery, Elizabeth & Lori Cosper and our friend Andrea who made some beautiful hippie chic cowgirl pieces for us, she does FANTABULOUS embroidery work and has become a dear friend, i'll get a link up to her website soon:-) in fact, look for "notes from the road, part deaux", coming soon:-) please also check out www.eagala.org (my eagala angels) and check out these two new books: The Soul of a Horse-Lessons from the Herd by Joe Camp www.thesoulofahorse.com  and Spot of Grace by Dawna Markova www.spotofgrace.com  to find more links check out my myspace page blogs www.myspace.com/templetonthompson happiness, tt