Monday, April 7, 2014

Story Sculpture

After a cold harsh winter if fighting the elements, one last snow storm threatens to berate the land once again. This winter has been one of the worst in a decade, with over 13 snow days and multiple snow storms.

Bundled up, I walk into the barn in the early hours as the morning. a safe haven for the soul, this place is quiet, the only noise is the sound of horses waking up, the only sight is the riding sun radiating light off of the windows, and the breaths of the animals.

As I punch in the code for the alarm, I remember all the pain, sweat, and hard work it has taken me to get to this place.

My horse, Shotzee, is a rescue, with a complicated past of his own. When I first saw him, I fell in love. Even though he was dirty, untrained, starved, and somewhat psychotic, I decided to take him on, mainly because no one else wanted to.

Through the 4 years I've had him, we've gone through everything. I've helped him realize he will no longer be abandoned and left to starve, and he has been my faithful companion through friends, relationships, and just the journey of high school.

But that's not where the story ends. We used to be horrible at our sport. We would go to shows and get laughed at by judges, or kicked out. My horse developed a behavioral problem no one could figure out, leading me into a back brace for a few months. When it got bad, we decided to leave the barn we had been at forever, leaving behind a painful past in order to move forward.

Today, as we come out of winter, we are training to show all over the east coast, under my professional trainer. We are more keenly trained, more fit, and my horse has the most weight and muscle mass he has ever had in his life. We are on top of our game, and ready for a summer of intense competition, hopefully beating those who always doubted us.