Okay, so I guess that all my life I’ve been subconsciously in love with horses. When I was three, we sold our full-sized horses and I asked my dad when I could get a pony. He told me I could get one as soon as I saved one hundred dollars. Right, a three-year-old with a fifty cent allowance saving one hundred dollars!!! Within two years, however, I started a little keyring-making business that just grew overnight and I finally saved enough to buy my very own pony!!! Unfortunately, I’ve never had any luck in choosing easy horses, and Rusty was no exception. Despite the fact that she was almost forty, I swear she tried to scrape me off on every tree available!!! Then my life got busier and I no longer had any interest in horses -- in fact, I was scared to death of them.

When I was around twelve, though, I suddenly decided I wanted to ride again -- this time in earnest. So, what do you know, I bought a greenbroke three-year-old Arab (some free advice here: do not, do not buy a greenbroke Arab when you’re a horribly green rider yourself!). I managed to take him from horribly green, and get him to a confident walk/trot 4H horse. Believe it or not, we placed in all our classes!

While I was working at the MSU Stallion Expo, I saw a demo for the Friesian horse. I have to admit it -- I fell head over heels in love with the breed, so when I heard about a Friesian mare for lease, Rinkje, I jumped at the chance. This horse was big, beautiful, and 1500 pounds of sheer POWER, despite the fact that she was so lame she couldn’t move. I worked her strength up slowly, and she improved. We showed training level, but we were really more suited for intro level.

I felt the need for a really good trainer, and our vet suggested Rowe Stables. At my first lesson with Tracy, I learned three things that radically changed my riding. I was stunned -- I had never learned that quickly before! Within six months, we were able to show first level with decent scores. The progress was amazing.

We are still learning and I come back from every lesson feeling like I finally have control of my horse, and I love the sensation!! Since then, I’ve been looking for a younger Friesian horse that Tracy can help me train, and I think I might have found one. Tracy is so awesome -- my goal is to get to Grand Prix and have a barn with Friesians when I grow up! I know she’ll be there, helping me along and I’m really looking forward to a wonderful experience of training with her. Grand Prix, here I come!