I grew up living the dream that just about every little girl dreams of living: owning a horse. I was placed on a horse before I could even walk, and I haven’t stopped getting on since. Growing up all of my friends had their “thing.” Some played basketball, others were in the musicals, but I was always the "horse girl" out of the bunch.

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Owning horses taught me responsibility.

Being an equestrian athlete isn’t like any other sport; you don’t have to feed or clean up after a soccer ball. In part that my horses live on my property, I’ve done all of the dirty work that comes with owning livestock. When I was young, I remember my mom handing me my own little pitchfork to clean stalls; I thought it was so cool that I got to take care of my own horse. As I got older and moved on to middle school, I would wake up an hour early to go out to the barn and help my mom feed the horse. As I moved on to high school my barn shift was moved to the evening. When it came time for to move into college I actually shed a tear over the fact that I would no longer be heading out to the barn each day to clean up horse poop (hard to believe, right?).

I’ve learned how to be a gracious winner, and an even more gracious looser.

When I began showing horses I started out barrel racing on a fat (but really cute) Halflinger pony. Though Scotty the pony and I never won blue ribbons, I found that I loved barrel racing more than anything I had ever done before. When I outgrew my pony I moved on to my first horse, Jazzy. Going from a slow moving laid back pony to a fast excited horse was scary for me, but Jazzy always took good care of me. It was with her that I began to hear my named called over the loud speaker as the winner of the class. As Jazzy aged, she could no longer run barrels; this is when I moved on to riding Shady. Shady is a barrel racer's dream; she's fast, smart and gorgeous. Trust me, we’ve had our rocky moments throughout our career, but that horse has also taken me to places I never could have imagined. When I have my bad show days, I think of the 8-year-old me -- I remember how much I love what I do. I pet my horse and thank her for the ride. When I come out on top of my competition, I remember how much I looked up to the riders wining the class in my pony days; I make sure I behave graciously just like those I looked up to did years ago.

I gained a stronger faith in God.

Shady is my once in a life time horse, if I could wrap her in bubble wrap I would. After an impressive start to my 2016 show season, Shady coliced in the spring. It was just like another day, left school and went home to ride and get ready for an upcoming race. When I was grooming and saddling Shady, she kept stretching; it was weird but I wasn’t too concerned. After riding a lap around the arena, Shady collapsed to the ground. In order to fix her twisted intestines, she had to undergo major surgery. The surgery Shady under went requires a three-month recovery. As the first month of recovery concluded, Shady coliced once again. After the vet examined her, he came to the concision that she likely twisted the same intestines as she did the first time. Hearing those words devastated me. I couldn’t ask my mom to spend the money to put her back into surgery; there was no way that surgery could happen. I spent day and night by my horse’s side praying to God to heal her. I'm thankful to say God that answered my payers. Shady is now back on track and on her third month of recovery. The fact that Shady is still alive is nothing less than a miracle; my faith in God has never been stronger.

So thank you, mom and dad, for raising me with horses and continuing to let me live my dream.