It’s hard to believe that horses have always been a part of my life. Literally, my mom sold her horse when I was born, and they bought a yearling mini for me to grow up with when I was 6 months old. He is 27 this year, mostly retired and living with a family friend for their kids to enjoy. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to grow up with horses, I know it is not something that everyone has the privilege of. The horses I have rode throughout the years have really shaped who I have become as a rider.
Beau
I have to start this post by talking about Beau, he is a registered miniature horse that my parents bought when he was a yearling. My dad taught him (and me) to drive in the cart. He went to so many parades and shows. He always went to the fair with us when we were little and of course we dressed him and the whole family up for costume class. He also took my sisters and I through 4-H as we showed in driving, mini trail, and showmanship. I was able to qualify for the PA State 4-H Show in mini driving and placed 7th in 2008. He loved to show off and would prance when we competed against a lot of people. He is such a character and although he is small, he is always the one in charge of the pasture.
Beauty
I was able to lease Beauty from my cousin to show in 4-H for a year. She gave me lessons riding English on her and I competed mostly in the flat classes. I always remember the one time she took me with her to a schooling show and I went in my first jumping class, it was only a small cross-rail class, but to me at the time the jumps were huge. I think we only loped over one and the rest we kind of trotted over. It makes me laugh every time I think about that class. I learned so much from that year of riding English. I still find myself doing the same warmup that she taught me and shuddering at the thoughts of posting with no stirrups.
Sadie
Sadie was my first barrel horse. When we were looking at buying her, we had her at our barn for a week to ‘try her’ and at the end of the week we took her to a show to see if she would work out. I showed her all day and at the end before we left, my parents told me they had bought her for me. What I didn’t know was they were set on buying her before we even went to the show. She was the sweetest little mare and would do anything you asked. We didn’t know much about her background except that she was supposed to have had a little bit of reining training. She was around 11 or 12 when we got her, and I showed in every class I could. She would do all of the game and fun classes but was especially good at poles. One year at the fair I showed all the English and Western pleasure classes, plus the game classes and won almost everything (except the one English class where I fell off, it doesn’t help when you try to grab the horn and there isn’t one). She was the first horse I rode bareback, and I would ride her around the farm. Sadie developed some pretty bad arthritis in her hocks. My last year showing her we were so close to qualifying for states, although I didn’t know it was the last time (nobody ever does). Her arthritis progressed pretty bad over the winter, and then she became lame in both front feet. She had to be put down in the spring of 2015. She gave me so many things, but she really made me the rider I am today.
I don’t have nearly enough space to write about all the horses that shaped me, as they all made such a lasting impact, but I included some pictures of a few others to round out this post.
The Barrel Racer's Journal 