I'll be honest. I have no idea how to write this. Normally Nikki Norfleet would proof read, make a few changes, totally rewrite, or just take it over from scratch. I'm going to try to do her justice.
Nikki was the heart and soul of Paragon. She was my 1st client in a new barn that I was just beginning. Emmy was the 5th horse to be brought into our Harpers Ferry home (Magic, Prix, Megeve, and Lady were there with her). She was here before Paragon was even called Paragon! I remember being so worried about taking care of this super cool horse with her super intimidating owner. And let me tell you, Nikki scared the crap out of me! I quickly learned that Nikki and I cared the same for our horses and out of that an incredible friendship and bond formed. If myself or anyone at Paragon needed anything, however small, she would drop everything to be there for us.
When I was in the hospital last year after a horrendous fall and wasn't able to come take care of the farm, it was Nikki who "took ahold of the reins" and made sure everything was under control. I couldn't have gotten through that without knowing that Paragon was probably being ran even better than it was with me in the driver's seat. I took every word of advice she had and every suggestion to heart. And trust me she had A LOT of advice and suggestions!
In the short 3 years I have had the honor of having Nikki in my life she touched so many peoples lives. She was always the one who was going to put her problems aside no matter what she had going on herself. She was my rock and knew she always would be. I loved coaching her. She would soak up every word and would practice it relentlessly until she mastered it. I loved our late night barn talks about life and how we talked about all of our dreams and aspirations and then pursued to push the other to those dreams. I loved how she loved Paragon. She loved Paragon like it was her own and she was not afraid to share her ideas with me or to coach me on how to handle all sorts of situations. I love how she loved every single horse like they were her own. She was my teammate. My mentor. My student. My friend. She was family.
Nikki singlehandedly helped to shape Paragon into what it is today and I can honestly say I wouldn't be where I am without her. I feel so lost not being able to call and text her asking what she would do in certain situations. Trust me those texts happened almost daily! I do know that she is resting easy knowing that her Queen is getting all of the cookies and is soaking up all of our tears as we yearn for her to come waltzing down the aisle in the most beautiful riding attire and a new saddle pad that matches it all.
I know I'm not nearly writing this as well as she would and she's probably rolling her eyes at me and wanting to make grammatical corrections and rewrite my run on sentences. But, I had to write something. Nothing I can come up with explains how much she means to me and to all of our barn family. There is such a huge hole that will never be filled but I will continue to push towards all of those dreams and aspirations that her and I talked about with a new found flame. Now I'm doing it not only for myself, but I'm doing it for Nikki.