Dream Job

I’ve been riding horses my whole life and basically taught myself everything I know with the help of my mom during my childhood. Horses automatically became part of my life from day one and it was just one of those thing I can not live without. Working with horses always had my attention, I was constantly reading books and watching videos to learn everything I could possibly know to better myself and my care for horses. Yes, I would occasionally take some lessons for instructors here and there, but never consistently. Growing up, I loved getting verbal advice from people but I never actually had one trailer that I stuck with until a couple of years ago. My sister and I mostly just did things with our horses on our own because we were never really sure what path to take in a horse career. It was until I was given the opportunity that I always dreamed of. A family friend of ours that was very successful in the horse industry offered me to come along to Florida with him over winter break to see what a huge horse show was like. I was in the 8th grade so this was around the point I started being super interested in show jumping and wanted to learn so much more about it. I wanted to do nothing else then show in this specific world of horse showing. I was constantly trying to learn every possible thing I could learn on my own about this specific discipline. So when I was given this opportunity I was so excited and super intrigued to do this. So the day had come Emily, my moms old friend showing horses as kids, and I were on the road with a trailer full of horses down to Florida for the week. It was such a good experience just seeing what it takes to haul horses all way down there and the specific needs we have to do in order to keep the horses safe and happy. Emily is a highly trained professional who show jumps at the highest level in the grand Prix division. Once we got to the grounds we all helped setting up and getting the horses settled in their stalls. It was just so cool to the organization and dedication it took to make sure everything goes smoothly. Today, I still use techniques that I learned from Emily when organised my horse care and riding schedule for big horse shows. But the best of all was the showing, and preparation it took to make sure the horse was feeling good and ready to show. Emily taught me the best stretches for your horse the morning of your show, it was so cool to see how they react to them with pleasure and how you can just tell they feel loose and bouncy. And again today, I still use those stretches on my horse for show prep. At the end of the day all the hard work and dedication paid off, Emily came in the top five in the Ocala grand Prix. I was truly inspired by the experience of helping out Emily at the high rated horse show and I learned techniques that I still use today. I loved every minute of that trip and shortly after I started training with a professional trainer for that discipline which I still ride with today. I’ve never loved what I do more with my horses, and I’m so grateful that I got such an amazing opportunity of learning.

Photo by wcm1111 on Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND