A 98-year-old hospice patient took a lap around the arena on horseback Friday as her family applauded her spunk. Gladys McLarnon, of Laurel, a plucky great-great-grandmother, sat proudly in the saddle. She made the brief loop with one helper leading the horse, another gripping a belt around her waist as he walked beside her and a third with his arm beside her opposite leg. "I practically lived on a horse until I got into high school," said McLarnon, who grew up on a homestead north of Terry. Before she took to the saddle Friday, she hadn't been on a horse in 15 years. She made her way determinedly from the car to a mounting block with the aid of a walker. "She thought she could still do it, so we went for it," Marilee Wold said. "Mother was always game for pretty near anything." When McLarnon's ride ended, the family's matriarch sat in the saddle as she posed for photos with several generations of her family. "Have you done your Christmas cards yet? Because this would be perfect for them," Megan Tenney, a dressage instructor at the arena, shouted out as relatives snapped photos. McLarnon has nine grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren and six great-great-grandchildren...
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