The Happiest Moments with my Horse

The best moments with my horse, One Tuff Prospect, (I call her Fancy for short,) include when I went to see her on Christmas Day, as I had received her as a gift from my parents when I was about 12 years old, and I guess they grew tired from years of begging, and shortened Wish Lists.

We've grown since then; she was an energetic trail horse with an attitude that tested me. For that particular cold winter, we mainly focused on the Western basics; spinning, lope, and controlling her fast pace! With a bit of practice and time, my trainer, Meghan, a local legend in Dressage, said that this horse was indeed, a "tuff prospect".

Slowly, I exposed her to the English riding style. It started with a simple brown bridle, borrowed from a friend, then I introduced the saddle. This change was hard for me too, because it'd been such a long time since I'd ridden this way! I had to sit taller, have my legs in shorter stirrups, and get used to Fancy's speedy gait once again.

That summer, we went to a local show, and we entered in the showmanship class, where instead of riding your horse or pony, you stand beside it. (You can find videos on Youtube under "Showmanship".) It was such a large class! Children my age with tall, short, dark and light ponies! There must have been a dozen of us! (Mind you, Oyama is a small town, and the 12 year-old age group isn't very large.) When we were asked to trot towards the judge, Fancy had such a strong trot, and she held her head high and proud! Stunningly, we took second place, and we had splendid first impressions at Fancy's first show.

By the next year, Fancy and I were doing all sorts of stuff! English Pleasure, Showmanship, Trail classes, (all of which can be found on Youtube,) and we had added Jumping to our list! We were soaring proudly over 2 ft! When Meghan suggested another show, I was ecstatic! We trained every weekend, testing out different courses, and practicing our pacing. Fancy tended to start rushing, as though it were a race, and come up a little too close to the jump, making it awkward for the both of us.

In the show ring, I was very nervous. What if we knocked down a pole? What if I couldn't remember the course? What if I dropped the reins and fell? I'll just say that there were plenty of What If's that day. All in all, Fancy and I did great, and we got 1st place! I was so proud, and so was Meghan!

Today, we're training for a Dressage competition, following in Meghan's footsteps. We're also beginning to jump higher, and are both working on Fancy's fear of cows. Even the babies! Speaking of babies, Fancy is helping us deal with Meghan's two newest foals, who can be a lot grouchy! So we've been putting them in with Fancy to teach them a lesson! She'll just give them a little nip, then they fall in line. Fancy is the ideal horse, who can and will do anything (,except chase cows, rear, and jump over gaps,) and I wish every horse could be like mine.