I have been riding for six years and would rather do nothing else than be around my horses. This all started with my mom’s old horse Frenchie. We owned Frenchie from when I was zero to three. I loved visiting her every day with my mom. Every now and than my mom would sit me on top of Frenchie and acording to my mom, I loved it. Frenchie was a beautiful, big, sweet horse. when I was three years old, when my first brother was born. Kids and horses are a LOT of work on a budget and my parents soon realized that and unfortunately, sold Frenchie. Although I haven’t seen Frenchie since then, she has impacted my riding life and love. One summer day, my cousin invited me to do a horse day camp with her. I said sure and had the best week of my life. Even just walking around was so fun! However, my cousin didn’t feel the same. I started taking lessons once a week at the same farm. Unfortunately, this barn was way overpriced so we switched. My first lesson at this new barn was on a pony named Peanut. I was able to ride 3 times a week now with better training and it was STILL even cheaper than the last barn. After many fun lessons at this barn, I got to ride a small mare named Jeanie in April, 2019. I immediately LOVED Jeanie and would ask my trainer constantly if I could ride Jeanie more. My trainer suggested leasing Jeanie to my mom. My mom said she would think about it. After begging and begging, she agreed. I was so happy! I rode Jeanie every single lesson now, and she was mine for a while. I had been working a long time on proving to my trainer that I could canter. However, she refused to let me. Well, that was until one day. This one day, I was riding Jeanie when my trainer finally said I was ready to canter.

This summer, we read a book called Finding Someplace by Denise Lewis Patrick. In one part, Reesie, the main character, had to pack up her stuff and leave her house because what was her house then, was soon to be destroyed by hurricane Catrina. Recently, my class acted as if we were in Reesie’s  situation by drawing our own backpack and packing it up with what we would bring if we were in a hurricane. Here is what mine looked liked.

This was such a fun activity for me and now I know what I would bring if I were in a hurricane!