PSU Equestrian team is different from the horse world I was exposed to, it is not the same sport I competed in, however any horse has the capacity to bring a smile to my face. Although, my horse has the power to make me feel more than a mere smile, a smile can go a long way. Eight o’clock in the evening every Wednesday night I climb into the saddle for my PSU riding team lesson. Feeling the horse’s rhythm, the movement of the canter, the wind blowing in my face. Its magic.
Sitting in the classroom, my fellow classmates would often ask me “Why do you horse-back ride? Isn’t it just expensive and a lot of work?” I would say yes to both of those questions without hesitation, but I 
cannot explain to them the nature of a horse. They do not relate to the complexity of the relationship. Often, my friends would laugh, and wonder why I spent 3-4 hours a day shoveling manure, grooming the sweat off the muddy horses, and cleaning my tack until it gleamed. I loved the work, even in 15-degree weather, in the dead of winter. Or the days when it was 100 degrees and buggy, nothing interfered with the ability for my time spent with my horses to feel worthwhile.
The statement my friends brought up about horses being so tiresome, and difficult to keep never occurred to me. My mindset was thinking that if you enjoy what you are doing, money, time, and work are not a burden. It is not work if you love it. An idea I often discussed with my dad was, “Do what you love, and you will never work another day in your life.” Writing about passion, and what I am passionate about, my thoughts fall upon what I want to do with my life? I want to feel the passion I feel for horses.
To live a life of happiness, with passion and gain fulfillment I need to find something that I love like I love horses. I want to wake up every day and run to work like I ran to the barn as a child. I want to be excited to do a job, just like I was excited to groom the horses, muck the stalls, and sweep the barn. I always found it important to wake up and feel needed to do something in the day, whatever it was, I never woke up without a plan in mind. I felt a strong sense of purpose.
Here I am at college, trying to figure it out. It is evident that life is an evolving process. Maybe the undiscovered surprises ahead of me will reveal new passions and areas of interest that will develop as I expose myself to new environments and experiences. I am 18years old and I don’t have a clear idea of what I want to do with my life moving forward; I am discovering every day and contemplating options. I do know that I am grateful for my early life with horses; I am grateful that I am certain what is feels like to have passion.
Often times it is hard to explain why we are passionate about certain things. It is something within us that simply cannot be explained other than the fact that we just love doing it. For me, I really enjoy volunteering. I like to see the smiles on people that I am helping. It is very time-consuming and people in high school wondered how I could keep up with all the “important” things in life when I devoted so much time to the community. Similarly, you put a lot of time and money into your horses because it is worth effort. The joy you get from riding is worth the material and personal sacrifices you make. I liked that you related your passion for horses to your hope of pursuing a career that you genuinely love. Sometimes people seek out their future career path for the wrong reasons and I am glad that you want to pursue something that you will love doing so you will “never work another day in your life.”