T.J. Palm Author
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T.j. Palm authoR
T.J. Palm
Born in Waterloo Iowa but raised in California from the age of 2, I am a California girl.
Some of my favorite places that I lived as a child was Santa Rosa and Laytonville,California. Santa Rosa was so beautiful, and even as a young girl, I could see clearly it was a very special place. We had 45 acres of land with a stream that ran though it year round. It had hay fields, orchards, grape vines, 90 year old house with a big porch, huge barn, and sheds. wow I wish I owned that now !!!
My mom and I took care of all the animals we had at the time and it was a lot. We had my first horse Babe, 13 all together 5 of which were Shetland Ponies. Then we also had 1 dairy cow and one Angus beef cow, my 4 H projects, that I never got to fair with. I couldn't sell them and I wanted to keep everything! Plus we had 2 pigs 1 Turkey, 1 Lamb, several Chickens, 1 Hamster, 1 Ginny Pig, 6 Parakeets, white mice, 2 dogs, 1 cat and last but definitely not least 200 rabbits. We raised them and I hated when the rabbit man came to pick them up!!!
My mom said I would hold a WAKE at the dinner table every time she butchered something, I would NOT eat. It had to be from the store and wrapped in plastic I'm still that way today. I have never eaten Lamb because my Lamb was my best friend, her name was Tammy. She would come to the back door and bang on it with her hoof for me to come outside!!! Wait, I forgot about the pigs they were so mean, they attacked us and killed anything that was unfortunate enough to go in there pen. My mom and I had to feed them together so one of us could watch while the other fed them!!!
My brother had a Squirrel Monkey and a German Shepard that he took care of. I was afraid of both of them the Monkey would bite and the dog would lunge at you, not fun. My bother wasn't into the animals like I was, he was into motorcycles and raced his BSA motorcycle every weekend. That was his thing and he had so much fun doing that.
Taking care of so many different types of animals taught me a great deal of responsibly in my life. It's the best thing for all kids to have to care for something that is alive and that 100% depends on them.
One of the best times in my life as a child was when we lived in Santa Rosa and my mom used to take me to the pony man's farm. I thought I was dreaming, that's how great it was. The barn was scaled down so that the stalls were the size for Shetland Ponies and in every stall was a beautiful body clipped Shetland Pony standing ankle high in shavings. My mom bought me a pony that day, and 4 more times a trailer would come down the driveway with another pony in it for me. I never took it for granted and I'm still grateful to this day.
Those ponies taught me a lot about keeping my seat. They were very naughty all but one, and that one we bred and she was the best mom and had the cutest baby!
Laytonville was the other place I lived In California, that I also loved as a child. Its way up north and so so beautiful we had 100 acres with orchards and pasture, a stream with very large fish and we were in the middle of the wilderness. There was a great big old barn, but the house wasn't great, I still loved it.
Started to snow one morning, so I went running in to tell my brother it was snowing and he said so what, he had just come from Iowa where it always snows. I didn't get it, I was so excited!! He spent time in Iowa with my dad and I was in Calif. with my mom so I didn't see snow. he saw it all the time!
We had a Cow to milk and the milk was so rich to this day I have to drink fat free because it was to rich and my bothers the same way.
There was a hermit up in the mountains that raised goats. Of course you know I had to have one. I love goats they make the best pets.
I took a short break from all the animals even horses, to be a wife and mother. I always had a dog, you know you can't go without a dog! I was busy raising my son and took him to the beach everyday though-out the whole summer. We lived in Huntington Beach and I love that area still. As my son got older I felt a void in my life and started to miss the horses.
My family moved to Nevada and it was possible to get a horse because there were places to keep a horse. So I did just that, and along with that horse came a divorce!! So I went to work for a very popular radio station in Las Vegas checking radio signal strengths all over the desert. One day my current husband Doug Shane came out to the tower site to see what was taking so long. He was the National Program director for six radio stations. Two were in Las Vegas and I was not impressed by him at all. I had no idea who he was, but when I mentioned the horses, by then I had two, he said he loved horses that he used to have a horse and could he come out to ride someday. I said yes and three months later we were married we just fit !
My son and I had a whole new life filled with meeting lots of very famous people and doing lots of exciting things. He went on to be the #1 rated morning show in Las Vegas and later he would become the station Manager. He also had a TV show about Country music videos on NBC Saturday nights.
We bought a beautiful ranch in Las Vegas, and I started a breeding, boarding and training business. I hired a trainer who had clients of there own. When I needed any help with my horses they were there to help.
The ranch started out with Arabians, then went to Nation Show Horses. We purchased a Saddlebred stallion to cross with the Arab mares and wound up falling in love with the Saddlebred breed, so we bought a second Saddlebred stallion. Both of these stallions were great horses and so sweet it was unbelievable how well mannered they were thanks to the best breeding manager ever. He was also Wayne Newtons breeding manager. We went total Saddlebred at the ranch and Newton said he would never have a saddlebred on Shenandoah, his ranch. He was at that time 100% into Arabian horses . We set up a photo shoot on Newtons ranch for the Oak Ridge Boys and brought our Saddlebred Stallion for the shoot. Wayne Newton was not home that day! For years we introduced a lot of people to the bred and started a Saddlebred club in Las Vegas. I showed allover on the west coast and Arizona for years with my Saddlebreds.
My business really grew fast. We had 35 head of horses most of the time. With the foals and showing I was getting tired and the Radio station that my husband had been with for 30 years sold to a huge corporation, and he was out. He opened an advertising agency and in one year it matched what he had made working for the radio station after 30 years, but it took a lot out of him.
We Started thinking about moving and decided on Colorado, partly because his mom and sister lived there and that's a whole other story!
So we did just that it was very hard to leave all my friends and that's also another story.
We moved to Colorado way up in the mountains in Guffey at 9500 Ft. outside a very small town. My mom had always told me to write down all of the animal antics that I have seen in my life with animals so that's what I did. Guffey is where I started writing. First, "A Tale of a Horse the Sheik of the Desert" and then "Norman for Mayor". This is a book that just poured out of my head so easily I hope my next book goes the same way!
Guffey had a dog for Mayor at one end of town and a Cat at the other end and one day I said to someone I should run Norman for Mayor, and they said oh no I wouldn't do that it would start a war! And that's what gave me the idea to write my book Norman for Mayor !!
I meet a great friend up there and we have lunch still to this day when she comes down from the mountains. We moved to Penrose and life is much easier plus I'm much lower in altitude with not so much snow!
I got my first Friesian and started to breed, everything was going as planned, totally fell in love with the Friesian breed, they own you, you don't own them. I bred and showed very successfully over several years. In fact I took our Friesian Stallion to a World Championship. We finally ended up with two World Champions and World Champion get, until health problems started and I had to change all my plans.
My husband, myself, two dogs, a cat, and two horses live on a small horse ranch in Penrose Colorado. Funny now my barn is bigger than my living area, but that's horse people, gotta love it !!!
Some of my favorite places that I lived as a child was Santa Rosa and Laytonville,California. Santa Rosa was so beautiful, and even as a young girl, I could see clearly it was a very special place. We had 45 acres of land with a stream that ran though it year round. It had hay fields, orchards, grape vines, 90 year old house with a big porch, huge barn, and sheds. wow I wish I owned that now !!!
My mom and I took care of all the animals we had at the time and it was a lot. We had my first horse Babe, 13 all together 5 of which were Shetland Ponies. Then we also had 1 dairy cow and one Angus beef cow, my 4 H projects, that I never got to fair with. I couldn't sell them and I wanted to keep everything! Plus we had 2 pigs 1 Turkey, 1 Lamb, several Chickens, 1 Hamster, 1 Ginny Pig, 6 Parakeets, white mice, 2 dogs, 1 cat and last but definitely not least 200 rabbits. We raised them and I hated when the rabbit man came to pick them up!!!
My mom said I would hold a WAKE at the dinner table every time she butchered something, I would NOT eat. It had to be from the store and wrapped in plastic I'm still that way today. I have never eaten Lamb because my Lamb was my best friend, her name was Tammy. She would come to the back door and bang on it with her hoof for me to come outside!!! Wait, I forgot about the pigs they were so mean, they attacked us and killed anything that was unfortunate enough to go in there pen. My mom and I had to feed them together so one of us could watch while the other fed them!!!
My brother had a Squirrel Monkey and a German Shepard that he took care of. I was afraid of both of them the Monkey would bite and the dog would lunge at you, not fun. My bother wasn't into the animals like I was, he was into motorcycles and raced his BSA motorcycle every weekend. That was his thing and he had so much fun doing that.
Taking care of so many different types of animals taught me a great deal of responsibly in my life. It's the best thing for all kids to have to care for something that is alive and that 100% depends on them.
One of the best times in my life as a child was when we lived in Santa Rosa and my mom used to take me to the pony man's farm. I thought I was dreaming, that's how great it was. The barn was scaled down so that the stalls were the size for Shetland Ponies and in every stall was a beautiful body clipped Shetland Pony standing ankle high in shavings. My mom bought me a pony that day, and 4 more times a trailer would come down the driveway with another pony in it for me. I never took it for granted and I'm still grateful to this day.
Those ponies taught me a lot about keeping my seat. They were very naughty all but one, and that one we bred and she was the best mom and had the cutest baby!
Laytonville was the other place I lived In California, that I also loved as a child. Its way up north and so so beautiful we had 100 acres with orchards and pasture, a stream with very large fish and we were in the middle of the wilderness. There was a great big old barn, but the house wasn't great, I still loved it.
Started to snow one morning, so I went running in to tell my brother it was snowing and he said so what, he had just come from Iowa where it always snows. I didn't get it, I was so excited!! He spent time in Iowa with my dad and I was in Calif. with my mom so I didn't see snow. he saw it all the time!
We had a Cow to milk and the milk was so rich to this day I have to drink fat free because it was to rich and my bothers the same way.
There was a hermit up in the mountains that raised goats. Of course you know I had to have one. I love goats they make the best pets.
I took a short break from all the animals even horses, to be a wife and mother. I always had a dog, you know you can't go without a dog! I was busy raising my son and took him to the beach everyday though-out the whole summer. We lived in Huntington Beach and I love that area still. As my son got older I felt a void in my life and started to miss the horses.
My family moved to Nevada and it was possible to get a horse because there were places to keep a horse. So I did just that, and along with that horse came a divorce!! So I went to work for a very popular radio station in Las Vegas checking radio signal strengths all over the desert. One day my current husband Doug Shane came out to the tower site to see what was taking so long. He was the National Program director for six radio stations. Two were in Las Vegas and I was not impressed by him at all. I had no idea who he was, but when I mentioned the horses, by then I had two, he said he loved horses that he used to have a horse and could he come out to ride someday. I said yes and three months later we were married we just fit !
My son and I had a whole new life filled with meeting lots of very famous people and doing lots of exciting things. He went on to be the #1 rated morning show in Las Vegas and later he would become the station Manager. He also had a TV show about Country music videos on NBC Saturday nights.
We bought a beautiful ranch in Las Vegas, and I started a breeding, boarding and training business. I hired a trainer who had clients of there own. When I needed any help with my horses they were there to help.
The ranch started out with Arabians, then went to Nation Show Horses. We purchased a Saddlebred stallion to cross with the Arab mares and wound up falling in love with the Saddlebred breed, so we bought a second Saddlebred stallion. Both of these stallions were great horses and so sweet it was unbelievable how well mannered they were thanks to the best breeding manager ever. He was also Wayne Newtons breeding manager. We went total Saddlebred at the ranch and Newton said he would never have a saddlebred on Shenandoah, his ranch. He was at that time 100% into Arabian horses . We set up a photo shoot on Newtons ranch for the Oak Ridge Boys and brought our Saddlebred Stallion for the shoot. Wayne Newton was not home that day! For years we introduced a lot of people to the bred and started a Saddlebred club in Las Vegas. I showed allover on the west coast and Arizona for years with my Saddlebreds.
My business really grew fast. We had 35 head of horses most of the time. With the foals and showing I was getting tired and the Radio station that my husband had been with for 30 years sold to a huge corporation, and he was out. He opened an advertising agency and in one year it matched what he had made working for the radio station after 30 years, but it took a lot out of him.
We Started thinking about moving and decided on Colorado, partly because his mom and sister lived there and that's a whole other story!
So we did just that it was very hard to leave all my friends and that's also another story.
We moved to Colorado way up in the mountains in Guffey at 9500 Ft. outside a very small town. My mom had always told me to write down all of the animal antics that I have seen in my life with animals so that's what I did. Guffey is where I started writing. First, "A Tale of a Horse the Sheik of the Desert" and then "Norman for Mayor". This is a book that just poured out of my head so easily I hope my next book goes the same way!
Guffey had a dog for Mayor at one end of town and a Cat at the other end and one day I said to someone I should run Norman for Mayor, and they said oh no I wouldn't do that it would start a war! And that's what gave me the idea to write my book Norman for Mayor !!
I meet a great friend up there and we have lunch still to this day when she comes down from the mountains. We moved to Penrose and life is much easier plus I'm much lower in altitude with not so much snow!
I got my first Friesian and started to breed, everything was going as planned, totally fell in love with the Friesian breed, they own you, you don't own them. I bred and showed very successfully over several years. In fact I took our Friesian Stallion to a World Championship. We finally ended up with two World Champions and World Champion get, until health problems started and I had to change all my plans.
My husband, myself, two dogs, a cat, and two horses live on a small horse ranch in Penrose Colorado. Funny now my barn is bigger than my living area, but that's horse people, gotta love it !!!