Today’s topic is sharing your favorite childhood memory. Since I have a horrible memory to begin with, my favorite childhood event is just one long continuous one. As of sitting here and writing this, I don’t have one defining moment that jumps out. Well, I take that back, here are a few, but I’ll only share one today.
For anyone who knows me, you know that I love horses. I received my first horse, Easy Bea, when I was twelve years old. She was a 12-year-old paint horse and one we liked to call ‘bomb proof’. She was perfect for me and my sister to learn on. Up until that point, I had been riding a borrowed horse one night a week during 4-H (back when it was still cool). That started almost a ten year career of showing horses.
After my first horse Easy Bea, my parents purchased a little quarter horse mare, Break out the Scotch. Believe me, we tried switching her name. I can’t tell you how many times when announcers would call our name, they’d make some comment about drinking scotch. I guess it was catchy. Scotch was a fun little horse and we made so many memories together.
After a couple years, it soon became apparent that I was ready to move on if I wanted to progress and show on a national circuit. I was surprised with my next horse, WhataTrafficStopper, a tobiano paint mare who stole my heart. She was just as hard-headed and stubborn as I was, but when we got it right, it was magical. We trained with a local trainer, had lessons three times a week, and worked like crazy.
I traveled all over the country with her, my trainer, and my grandparents. We went as far west as Oklahoma and Texas, as far South as South Carolina, and all around the Great Lakes. It was such an incredible time in my life. I even wanted to skip my high school graduation for a horse show. My parents probably would have let me, but told me to ask the principal. So I did. It caught him off guard and he had to think a minute. Come to find out, high school graduation is a required event. But I managed to squeeze in a horse show the same weekend of graduation, just not in Oklahoma.
After Stopper, I rode a few more quarter horses and was able to fulfill another dream. I was able to show in Florida during a break at school and also at the Quarter Horse Congress. I never imagined that visiting the show as a little girl, I’d be showing there myself. Talk about dreams coming true.
Anyways, I could go on and on and on and on about my horse show memories. I miss it. I really do. I miss the smell. I miss the excitement. I miss the dirty finger nails. I miss the smell of leather. I miss the happy-satisfied-feeling at the end of a show. I don’t miss the 5:30 AM mornings and 1:00 AM bedtimes. Well, maybe I do.
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