It was a hot July day in St. Louis, Missouri. I had to be at the horse show grounds at 5 am. Grooming my horse, warming up and practicing, getting all riding gear necessary ready, and waiting till my event was time consuming, but waiting for my events was consumed even more time. Sometimes up to two or three hours.
As time goes by, my event finally gets called. My nerves start going and it doesn’t mix well with the 90 degree heat along with the heat of being under a long sleeve, riding pants, helmet, gloves, riding boots and a riding coat. As I’m about to enter the ring, I’m more nervous than ever… I take deep breaths and I try to remember the order of jumps I have to go in, in the course given by the judges. After the first two, I start to relax and after finishing, I feel incredible to have ridden and handled my horse well. As all the horses and riders line up in the middle of the ring, waiting to see how we placed, a smile comes across my face, as I’m confident that my horse and I did superb. I hear mine and my horses names are called… I won first place!
Ever since I was seven-years-old, I’ve had a love for horses. They are my favorite animals. I started horseback riding then and had been doing it for seven years. I owned 2 horses, one was a pony. I spent five or six days a week going out to the barn, taking care of them, making sure they were well, and taking lessons. It was a great deal of time, money, and responsibility to ride and own horses but my parents supported me because they knew I had an absolute passion for it.
Horseback riding was and still is my passion and it taught me many thingsaboutresponsibility and has made me a part of who I am today. I’m that person who cares for everyone and everything and takes that responsibility that I learned and applies it to my everyday life; homework and school, doing chores, being home for curfew, and making right decisions.