There are some things in your life that are just unforgettable and you just can’t live without them.  I don’t mean the necessities like food and water.  I mean the one passion or person in your life.  For me  that one thing is horseback riding.   I love everything about it, or so I thought.

Ellie
I remember the first time I ever rode a horse. It was one of the  scariest moments and one of the greatest moments.  I rode a horse named Ellie.  She was a huge black horse who was called the gentle giant.  They called her that because she was so gentle and good for all of the beginners.  Yet, she was the biggest horse there.  She was  one of the most important horses to me because she taught me how to do all of the basics.  I remember trotting and feeling like I was just gonna fall off because I wasn’t used to riding yet.  She got me hooked from the beginning.  Ever since that one day, I never wanted to leave.  About three years later I still love riding and I’m the person helping the younger kids learn to ride.

Luther
One of the most important horses in my riding career would have to be Luther.  He was an old black horse with a white stripe on his face.  I don’t have any words to describe him besides perfect.  He was so sweet and he was the first horse I cantered at Briarwood.  He listened  to  everything  you asked for and loved to give hugs.  Okay maybe he just wanted the treat he got after.  But, he still was the best horse out there.  No horse can get better than him.

Dolly
When I first started riding I had to test out a few barns to see which one I liked best and which riding style was my  favorite.  I chose this barn, Briarwood, because my bestfriend used to ride there. We went there for a week of camp and everyday a group of three of us,  My bestfriend, a girl named Abby, and I were in the same lesson and would just switch off from three horses.  One of them being Dolly.  Dolly is really special to me because she was my first fall. While it may seem like that would have been a bad experience.  Your first fall is one of the most important experiences you can go through.  Falling teaches you that you always need to be focused as well as you never give up.  You never fall  of a  horse and walk away.  You have to get back on or else you will just be more scared the next time.  Therefore, Dolly created one of  the most important experiences.  I absolutely loved that horse.  She was a small white pony with a lot of sass.  Even though she was a little bit of a baby she was so energetic and always happy.

Ellie
I remember untacking my horse on one of my Wednesday group lessons while Ellie was being walked around the barn.  The instructors were at a horse show so they were unable to be there  to know that Ellie was sick.  It turned out that Ellie had an infection.  I had  went home wondering what happened but didn’t really expect anything of it.  The next night I was working on homework and I kept getting a bunch of  texts.  They were all coming from a group chat that my barn made.  It had turned out that Ellie had to get put down because she wasn’t doing well.  At first I didn’t really think much about it.  However, more and more I thought about it the more and more  I realized how important Ellie was to me.  She was the first horse I ever rode.  She was a horse for all of the little kids who rode.  How were we supposed to tell the kids that Ellie passed  away.

Luther
I was sitting on my bed in our beach house in Ocean City, NJ when I got a notification that someone had added me on snapchat.  It was my friend Shannon from my old barn.  I immediately added her back because we were really good friends and I hadn’t seen her in years.  A few minutes later I got a message from her saying remember me.  I quickly responded of course.  We got to talking and she told me that Luther had died a little while ago.  My heart dropped.  Luther was my best memory from the old barn.  I had no words to describe how upset I was.  I was in complete shock to begin with.

Dolly
I can remember this day like it was just yesterday.  I was getting dropped off with my friend when the back was blocked off.  We were told that we had to go into the house instead.  We knew something was up in the beginning.  However, once we got in there everyone was happy and there was a big tv which we figured we were watching a video on.  What we didn’t think about was why part of the barn was blocked off.  Once everybody got inside, the instructor told us the news.  Dolly had gotten colic, a problem horses get in there stomach that can only be fixed if  seen right away.  Dolly, had colic and nobody knew.  So when they went to check on her she had passed.  The reason that the barn was blocked off was because they had to take  her body away.  I remember everybody bursting out in tears and just sitting there.  My instructor later told me that I was the last person to ride her.  That made me have a very special  experience with her.  However, after that I thought wait this has to be my fault then.  I held in the  tears and thoughts all day until I got home and just went to sleep.

Eventually, I moved on and am improving very quickly in my riding.  I have settled into one barn and I ride all different horses and have lots of new friends.  One of my favorite horses though would have to be Raisin.  She is the cutest, treat obsessed horse horse who is so much fun and more difficult than a lot of the other horses I ride.  She is a big baby and spooks over almost everything, but I still love her.  I love everything about her personality and am hoping to show her over the summer on the academy team.

While it may seem that it’s dumb to continue horseback riding when you know you’re going to have to deal with all the deaths.  Everything has a what-if.  In anything you do there is always something that can go wrong.  However, it is all worth it if you are doing what you love.