Ever since I was little I was obsessed with horses. I watched every horse movie that existed, constantly played with my dozens of toy horses, and ran around the house on all fours pretending to be a wild mustang. For a while I genuinely thought that I was a horse in my past life. I was completely obsessed by anything horse-related. Multiple Halloweens I dressed up as Jessie from Toy Story. Every Christmas I would beg my parents to let me get a horse, but to no avail. Eventually when I was in third grade they caved enough to allow me to start taking horseback riding lessons at the nearby barn.
Getting to start taking lessons was monumental to 10 year old me. I loved learning to ride just for the joy of riding and the ability to be around horses. Competing in shows never really appealed to me. I saw riding as a hobby, not a competition. Shows required so much formality, preparation, and stress to be better than the next rider. I wanted to improve and excel because it was fun, not because I wanted to be better than anyone else. This is a really interesting phenomenon for me because I am inherently very competitive. Almost any other activity I try I feel at least some motivation from comparing my abilities to others’, but for some reason I only rode for fun.
With my best friend Katie and her horses
From 4th until 8th grade, I rode at least once a week (except in the winters, I’m a baby in the cold). My best friend was into horses too and we rode her family’s horses. We went on trail rides multiple times a week through middle school, but when high school came and we went to different schools, we stopped altogether. I missed horses and riding a lot during high school. Then after high school, when I travelled to the Australian outback to work, I got an opportunity to ride horses again! My job was in cattle mustering, which essentially is herding cattle on horseback. The work was difficult and tiring, but I loved having the chance to be around horses and improve my riding. Now with college, I am in a position that does not allow me to ride, between classes and rugby I have no time leftover for hobbies. I hope one day I will find another opportunity to horseback ride again.
Riding my favorite horse at Templeton Training in Kingaroy, QLD, Australia