My Riding Journey

Ever since I was a little kid I wanted to ride horses. I didn't ever get to because my family did not have the money to take lessons. When I was nine I had a friend that told me about a barn that you work at and get lessons in exchange and I immediately asked my mom if I could. Thankfully, she said yes and I was so happy. I worked four hours to earn a lesson. At my first lesson, I was so nervous that the person giving me a lesson had to walk next to me. After a few lessons I was able to walk around with the horse on my own. After a while they decided I was ready to trot which is the speed after a walk. I held onto the saddle for dear life. I was so scared but got the hang of it.

Fast forward a year later, I was still only doing walking and trotting. I eventually decided I wanted to ride in an English Saddle, which is the type you use to jump horses in. When I look back at when I first started riding English I was so bad compared to where I am now. Eventually, I was okay at riding English.

When I was 13, I started leasing an off-track thoroughbred, which is a horse that used to be a race horse. He had trust issues with new people, but eventually I gained his trust and he would whinny whenever he saw me walking to his pasture where he was kept. Then, came the day his owner said I could ride him because she wanted him to get to know me before I rode him. Not even five minutes in he freaked out and threw me off. I was scared to ride for quite some time after that.

A month later his owner told me that she had to sell him due to a divorce. I was heartbroken. When I got home that night I cried for hours. A few months later, we went to the barn where he was once at to see if it had changed at all and a gentleman we met when I leased him offered for my sisters and I to ride his horses. I was so happy. He put me on his horse named Spirit. She is an ex-barrel racing horse so she liked to go fast. I fell off her many times, but she taught me so much and made me improve as a rider. After a year or two the gentleman decided he was going to move to Alabama. I was sad, but he told us we were allowed to come up and visit him and the horses for a few days.

After that I started high school and met a girl and it turned out she had horses. She and I hit it off immediately, we became best friends and still are to this day. Her mom trains me and has helped me learn so much. I am now learning to jump up to two feet high. That is the story of how I have advanced over the years as a rider