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Becoming US in Marin

A New Mom, a New Marin
BECOMING US IN MARIN

By: Taylor Shepard | June 1, 2023

We have a big advantage. My husband is from here. He grew up in Marin and his family still lives here. So even before we left our trendy SF apartment, we knew these parts well. We have favorite restaurants in Marin, know all the best hiking and mountain bike trails, we have a little circle of friends and people to rely on. It made this transition a whole lot easier. April brought the big move, May was all about settling in, but JUNE… JUNE is a big month. It is the month where my husband and I can officially say “our baby will be here next month.”

We are becoming US in this new town. San Francisco held so much for Jacob and me as a couple, but our family's story is one that will start here in Marin. This month I get to celebrate the amazing ways Jacob has been a partner throughout this pregnancy. He never missed a single OB appointment, he came home from every trip with a little gift for our new girl, he talked to her through my belly daily and he worked ENDLESS hours in order to make sure she is being set up for the best life possible. It is easy to count the ways in which I am certain he will make an excellent father.

I know he will be the best because I was raised by the best. My dad and I were the stereotypical firstborn daughter and father duo. I had him wrapped around my finger, and, to me, my dad could do NO wrong. He was my biggest supporter, toughest critic and best cheerleader. At just five years old, my dad took me on a horseback ride in the red mountains of Utah where my family vacationed in the winter to ski. We rode old skinny horses along a dusty trail and out there with the smell of sage filling my senses I just knew that I had found myself. I was meant to be a cowgirl.

So, what I love about this story is that most of the time when a five-year-old tells their parents that they want to be an astronaut or a movie star, the parent says “oh that's nice” and brushes it off. These dreams are left discarded and the kid grows up thinking that their idea was crazy and unattainable. Not my dad. My dad instead made me a deal (he was a businessman in sales, after all!): if I promised to take one riding lesson every week, never miss, and learn as much as I could, after a year he would buy me my own horse. I was five then, I am 33 now… I have taken countless lessons, owned dozens of horses, competed at local, state and national levels. I have won the All American Quarter Horse Congress and the National Snaffle Bit World Championship. I rode in college for an NCEA (NCAA for riding horses) team on a scholarship, became a PATH certified therapeutic riding instructor, rode once-wild horses in Montana as a Heroes and Horses Horseman, coached the Stanford Western Equestrian team into postseason, AND started my own thriving business, EQ Wellness LLC, in the Bay Area, where I teach aspiring cowgirls everything I know.

When I first met Jacob, there was something familiar about him. He doesn’t look like my dad, talk like my dad or come from even close to the same region as my dad. But Jacob DREAMS, and LIVES like my dad. And he gives me permission to do the same. This Father’s Day, I am honoring the BEST dad I could have ever imagined for myself, as well as my choice to marry and start a family with the best father I could ever imagine for my little girl. I know she will grow up knowing that her dreams matter. And maybe, just maybe, those dreams will take her as far as mine have been able to take me. And she will look back and know it was all possible thanks to her dad.

Taylor Shepard is a new Marinite and mom-to-be exploring what this next stage of life will hold alongside her amazing partner, Jacob. She is a lifetime equestrian and entrepreneur who specializes in heart centered horsemanship and equine facilitated wellness. Taylor and Jacob have 5 horses and a beloved mini goat, Hazy Daizy. She is the owner of EQ Wellness LLC and founder of the California Cowgirl Company, a PATH certified instructor at BOK Ranch, coach of the Stanford Western Equestrian Team, and an avid Wild Horse advocate. You can learn more about Taylor and her work at www.eqwellness.org or on instagram at @thecaliforniacowgirlcompany.