Remembering Glitterspace

September 2005

We crest the rise on I-40, squinting into the round orange September sun descending to the west, to see the mile-high town of Tehachapi, California, coming into view on the plateau below. A new (to us) and empty horse trailer is in tow. To break it in, my partner, Liam, and I had just transported a load of furniture from my mother’s former home in Oregon to her new place in Santa Fe. 

“Flag needs a girlfriend,” says Liam from the driver’s seat. In the nearly two thousand miles of this trip, not once had the thought occurred to me of returning home with another horse, even though we were stopping to meet the founder and executive director of one of the largest Thoroughbred rescue organizations in southern California. 

We pull into Tranquility Farms and are greeted by Priscilla Clark, who reaches out to shake our hands with both of her own and a bright smile of welcome, to take us on a tour. During our visit, we hoped to hear how she began, to learn how she cares for and manages nearly 100 horses, and to gain more insight into what RRRR Ranch [what we first called Flag Ranch] might do and how. 

“In a single day, you can fill with horses whatever space you have available by taking some cash and a few empty trailers to the auctions,” says Priscilla. “Just be sure you leave your heart at home.”

“We have an empty trailer and a little cash,” Liam says, not one to let an idea go easily. My heart was omnipresent; I could not imagine choosing just one horse from Priscilla’s 100. It would be an exponential “Sophie’s Choice,” the phrase from the devastating film of the same name that has come to signify an impossible dilemma. 

“What are you looking for?” asks Priscilla. 

I share what I can see of our vision, the space we have —I had moved Flag to a small herd in a pristine pasture overlooking the Pacific Ocean on the San Mateo coastline, a step toward my dream of a ranch by the ocean — and funding, which at the moment was my modest bank account. 

“There is one,” she says.

At the rail of a small pasture containing 20 Thoroughbred mares, Priscilla stops and calls, “Oh, Miss Glitter!” Within seconds, a slender bay mare with a lovely crescent moon on her forehead and thin white stripe stretching to the tip of her muzzle, separates herself from the herd. She comes straight toward us in a polite style of walk that she still has to this day. Instead of greeting Priscilla, which one would expect since she was familiar, or Liam, whose beam of light attracts many to him wherever we go, Glitter walks directly to me. 

“Well, that’s clear!” Priscilla and Liam chime in unison.

“Meet Glitterspace, a 12-year-old Thoroughbred who won almost $200,000 on southern California tracks until she was injured,” Priscilla says. “She was then sent out as a broodmare but didn’t take because she has only one ovary.”

Glitter’s choice is clear to me, too, as I hold back my tears. I can contain them no longer as we pull away from the entrance gate and out onto the highway, the mares of Glitter’s herd a cacophony of cries, concerned faces, frantic eyes and galloping bodies, calling for their sister. Glitter’s whinnies echo in response for miles as we drive. I let the tears run.

The image above was taken of Glitter on a frosty December morning in 2024. (Photo by Kimberly Carlisle)