I find it very interesting how we, as people, tend to build from nothing. We take few and turn it into many. Slave owners gave us butcher scraps, and we turned it into soul food. We take our pain and sorrows and turn it into beautiful works of art and music. We can take a word that has a derogatory history and turn it into something we instead associate with beauty.

The most important woman that has ever been a part of my life is my now deceased “Grama Joan” as I’d call her. I always loved to hear about her childhood and what it was like growing up in a time that was so hard for many people of color. She liked to tell me the story of her grandfather who was born in Spanish Morocco. She described him as a frightfully attractive man with thick, dark, straight hair and light tan skin. He was called a mulatto. Somewhat of a mix, someone that doesn't quite fit, but something beautiful nonetheless.

So I, like my Grandmother, chose to turn something that was originally intended to be ugly, into something beautiful. I take horses that are not worth anything to anyone and turn them into something useful, so that they may have a chance at a consistent, long, positive life. Mulatto is used to describe a light brown color, the same color that all the meadows on my first ranch would turn in the hot summer months. A sight to me that was gorgeous, when most would see nothing but old, dried grass longing for a splash of rain.

I again make a mix with my family. As I am partnered with a Mexican man, who is my best friend, my love, and father to our charming daughter Genesis Joan, aptly named after my Grandmother. I am a mix of both Western and English because I truly believe that horsemanship is at the base of them all. It is a language that transcends all disciplines. I will always choose to take the negative and turn it into positivity. That is why I stand proudly by the name Mulatto Meadows.