Words Cassidy Nunn
Photo Nunn Other Photography
Every Friday morning for the past 30 years a group of women, all who’ve spent most of their lives riding horses and being involved in the horse world here on the Peninsula – specifically in the sport of dressage – meet for breakfast at a local restaurant.
The purpose: to talk horses! There’s no one person in charge, the restaurants have changed over the years and there’s a standing invitation to whomever can make it for breakfast. It’s always a surprise as they “never know who is going to make it!” says Jane Biggs, who has been a member of the group for the past 26 years. Sometimes all 15 ladies will be in attendance and other times it’s a more intimate gathering. A breakfast meeting time was decided on when the group first got together so that those who were working could be accommodated.
Many years ago, when the group of ladies were collecting money to sponsor a class at a local dressage show, they realized it was time they came up with a name for their group and from that point onwards they were known as the Galloping Goddesses. All the women have owned or still own horses and were once avid riders. A few continue to ride, though no one is competing in the horse show circuit anymore. One group member is a judge for dressage shows, while several of the others give back to the horse community by volunteering their time at horse shows or sponsoring young riders. “In our minds we’re all still riders!” says Ilona Rule, who was the final member to join the group 10 years ago. Ilona is now the self described “executive border collie of the email list.” She helps to keep everyone organized with events such as birthday celebrations, Christmas parties and rallying everyone if a fellow member needs any help with their horse or life events in general. The Galloping Goddesses celebrate every 70th birthday with a party and continued to do so through Covid times by holding drive-by birthdays. Covid also had them pivoting and getting creative in order to keep their Friday meetings going. They held their weekly get-together in the fields at one member’s farm property a “Bonnie Henry prescribed distance away from each other,” Jane adds.
With the common connection between everyone in the group being horses, the conversation each Friday generally revolves around their favourite subject. “We never run out of stuff to talk about,” says Jane. “But now everyone’s getting older, if we get onto the health kick, we try to turn it back to horse talk!” While they may steer the conversation away from talk of health problems, if a member of the group is having health issues with themselves or their horse, the Galloping Goddesses are quick to step up and help, whether that’s providing horse care, cooking, watering plants or pitching in with barn work.
“There’s so much camaraderie between different people,” says Jane. Long-time Galloping Goddess Kathy Jawl describes the group as being “very respectful and really positive. Everyone gets along and there are no undercurrents in the group.” They pride themselves on not being a “gossipy group” and it’s easy to tell the women share a strong bond and enjoy each other’s company.
So while they may not all still be riding, their passion and love of horses hasn’t wavered one bit. The Galloping Goddesses’ dedication and generosity to the horse community over the years is long standing and inspiring and will hopefully continue for many years to come.
