I have showed horses before and it was a very big part in my life but I only started when I was 10. My aunt and uncle lived together in Athens Michigan and had 7 horses.  Two babies and the rest were at least 4 years old. I showed a horse and she was only 8. Her name is Simplicity and she was a huge horse. She had a small white mark on her head. Just like all other horses she was black. She was very tall and amazingly strong in many ways. The other horses were around the same age and all had white on their faces. The horse that I used was pregnant during my first year at fair. She was a sweetheart but had her moody moments too. 

My first year at fair was so much fun. I showed her in many classes against kids my own age. I showed her in a cart class, a braiding, showmanship and halter. 

Cart class was and still is my favorite.  You hook a horse up to a pretty, old fashioned cart and drive around while the judge watches you. Braiding is a class that you get timed to braid the entire horse. You get 30 minutes to complete everything and then the judge chooses the person that made their horse look the best. Showmanship and halter are the same but judged differently. Showmanship is about how the person handles the horse in the arena. Halter is about how the horse looks. 

I won first place in all of my classes and when that happens you get put into the “Show Of Champions”. When participating in this show, you have to show every animal on the fairgrounds. Such as cows, sheep, ponies, bunnies, ducks, and even dogs! All of the animals were lined up in different barns ready for the kids to use them. While going around there was a judge for each individual animal. The judges wrote down everyone’s score depending on how they did and sent them on their way to show another animal.  It was so much fun and I learned so much. It taught me that I did not have to stick with just horses and that showing other animals was fun too.

 Shortly after the summer ended my aunt and uncle started having problems. They decided that a divorce would be the best choice. This resulted in selling all of the horses. They are back together now after 2 years. They tried to get back all of the horses but we only got back one horse, which left me without a horse because the horse we got back was already taken by my cousin in the past. We had gone to many auctions before and never found a horse. When we finally found one we were as happy as an 8 year old child getting their first bike.

  We often spent lots of time comparing sizes between a horse we were interested in and then the horse we already had to that they matched. Choosing horses at an auction isn't always easy. It often took lots of time and most of the time lots of money. 

When I got my horse Saphire, on October 26th, 2017 in the state of Indiana, we were at an auction in a huge red barn full of amish people and lots of horses of all colors. This auction was only draft horses. There were many other barns where the horses were stalled. We were allowed to walk around to find numbers we wanted to see but that is the only reason we were allowed in the barns. There was a white fence needing an update on paint around where the horses were being shown off,bidded on and bought. 

The babies usually went first and then so on based off of age.  People were all yelling “hey” or throwing their hands up to let the announcers know they wanted to bid on the horse.  The guys on the speakers were talking so fast. We watched the horses run back and forth over and over again getting shown off, with white stickers on them that said their auction numbers which helped everyone know what horse it was. Another helpful thing was the auction show books, they had every horses record and family bloodline listed inside. Often bloodlines interested people the most, but looks,size,and color are all other factors in the mix. 

We walked around and made lists of horses we wanted to see and went back to the red barn to watch them and wait. Once we got back to the barn we noticed sixty five horses went by already and we finally found the horse we wanted to see. We bidded on her and competed to buy her. The last bid went around as the guys on the speakers spoke loudly and suddenly all of the sound stopped, everyone waiting for someone to finish the bidding and buy the horse. My uncle raised his hand and the men on the speakers yelled “Sold to number 247”. I was so happy that I finally got my first horse. When we bought her we got her for $3,000 which was right in our price range so everyone was happy. 

When the guy selling her walked up to us with the horse I started to cry because I was so excited to take her home. When we got back to her stall to put her on the trailer we put her shipping boots on that protected her feet on the ride home and headed towards the trailer and loaded the horse. 

We talked to the seller for a little while insuring him we were going to take care of the horse and then we were on our way shortly after. On the way home I had butterflies, I was so excited! It was almost dark by the time we were half way home. It was too bad we still had so much to do when we got there. 

 It was such an amazing day. 

I still show my horse Saphire today and it is the best part of every single summer. I travel with my family and we have so much fun while doing something we live to do. Traveling with the horses and making memories is the best part. I will never regret getting into the horse business for many reasons. It has brought me joy and lots of love for so long and always will.