![]() ![]() Rudolf and I earned the title of Leading Adult Jumper in both 20. It was very difficult to manage college and my horses but again I found a way! I was gone at least two weekends of every month. During my undergraduate years I showed rather aggressively. Rudolf is an amazing teacher and had been shown all over Europe and South American before being imported to the United States. I found Rudolf, a black Belgian Warmblood gelding, at the Kentucky Horse Park, in Lexington Kentucky the week before I started my first year of college. I did not have a show horse at this time and my parents decided they would let me look for another jumper. He passed all of his tests with flying colors and we volunteered twice a week until I went away to school.Īt that point in my life I was entering my freshman year at Marquette University. I went through the process of having Sparky certified as a therapeutic riding animal. My senior year of high school I became active in a non-profit organization called BEAMING, Inc., a therapeutic riding program that worked with adults and children who were faced with either physical or mental disabilities. faced a similar ankle injury and was unable to jump any more. in the lower jumper divisions before I became injured in a riding accident and had to have ankle surgery. But somehow I managed to ride a lot and do well in school. It was a lot to handle as I would not get home from the barn until 10 at night. I made the trek after school 5 days a week to ride. Wild Wood is located in Hartland, Wisconsin an hour and a half drive from Appleton. ![]() to Wild Wood Farm my junior year of high school. was very hard to handle but could jump well over 5 feet with no problem. a bay thoroughbred gelding that was off of the race track. Camelot stayed with my family for 9 years before retiring in Illinois.Īfter Camelot, at age 16, I advanced to my first Child Adult Jumper, J.R. I showed him for several years and won many state awards such as leading Junior Rider and leading Junior Equitation Rider. Camelot had a lovely jump and moved beautiful. I was 13 at the time and just entering middle school. I showed Sparky in the 3 foot large pony divisions and then I advanced to Junior Hunter (3’6" jumping divisions), with Camelot, a Selle Francais Warmblood gelding. After the move to Green Bay, Sparky and I advanced quickly and entered many hunter jumper shows in the Milwaukee area. My father is also very supportive and attended all of my shows growing up, even though horses were not of interest to him. ![]() She drove me to the farm 6 days a week from the time I was 12 to 16 and still travels with me to every show. My mom was wonderful and dedicated to my sport. The Fox Cities, where I am from, does not offer any farms that teach jumping so the best I could do was to trailer Sparky once a month to my Pony Club meetings.Īs I became more serious about showing, my mother decided it was best that I move Sparky to a farm in Green Bay, a 45 minute drive from my parent’s house. Soon after joining Pony Club I became even more serious about showing and jumping. The particular branch I joined was in the DePere area, 50 minutes from where Sparky was boarded in Greenville. We joined a national organization called Pony Club, that is dedicated to teaching young people about the care of horses as well as show jumping, cross country, and dressage. He has a great attitude and was very patient with me as we both learned together. Sparky and I learned how to ride and jump together. When we purchased Sparky he did not have a lot of training on him which caused me to frequently fall off, which I got used to quickly. No one had paid much attention to Sparky before I got him, so it took a while to gain his trust, and today he still is very much a one person animal. Sparky is a Quarter/Horse Arabian cross that I still own and ride. They are popular characters which you will learn a lot about as you read my blog.Īt age eight my parents got me my first pony, Sparky. Since my days with Pixie I have owned eight other horses and currently have two, Sparky and Rudolf. I rode a 20 year old Shetland pony mare named Pixie and my mother a 15 year old Arabian gelding named Bay-Boy. When I was five years old my mother and I both leased horses together. My love affair began when I was four years old, the first time I sat on a pony at a family friend’s house in Northern Wisconsin and since then I have been completely hooked. I am a 24 years old and am completely in love with horses. It seizes a person whole and once it has done so, he will have to accept that his life will be radically changed." "Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby, to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |