I am a 15 year old sophomore at Danville High School and a very active teen. I am involved in FFA, Student Council, soccer, swimming, and track and field. I swim butterfly and I am the first girl pole vaulter at Danville. I also volunteer at the veterinary hospital in Danville and at Hope’s Way. I plan to pursue a doctorate of veterinary medicine focusing in equine studies. I am considering Purdue University, Colorado State University, and Virginia Tech. Any advice?? I have three older brothers and I am the baby girl. All of my older brothers are computer gurus. Josh, 25, lives in Colorado with his wife Caroline and went to school at University of Evansville. Jeremy, 23, lives in Chicago (for the time being) and graduated with a double major from Rose-Hulman. Smartee! Jonathan, 18, is a senior and wants to go into outer space and just got accepted to Rose-Hulman and University of Evansville. My mom stays at home and tries to keep up with all of our activities. My dad works at Rolls-Royce. I have no idea what him and my brothers do because all of them work with the military and their work is top secret. Ha! My horse craze started when I was really little, but I was never really exposed to horses until I started taking riding lessons when I was about 8. From then on I knew I wanted to be a vet. Ever since then you couldn’t drag me away from horses. I have had experience with all kinds of people and horses. I started out on Arabians so now I’m hooked. I have taken some pretty nasty falls, but have never broken a bone. (Knock on wood!!) For the past few years I have been volunteering at Hope’s Way. I love it!! I started out on a horse named Princess whose alternate personality is named Witchy Woman! She is my baby and my bomb proof horse. I rode her in my hometown homecoming parade. I even rode her on the field that night as the ‘Warrior’ (Danville’s mascot). I had a huge headdress on, was running her in front of a crowd of hundreds, and they even set off fireworks and she never even flinched. (She even stood still during the National Anthem!) I love her! The horse I am working with now (also at Hope’s Way) is Casper. Casper is not such a friendly ghost! He is seven years old and has had excellent training, but he hasn’t been ridden in a long span of time and has lost his manners and gained an attitude since he is the alpha horse. He is a challenge, but I absolutely LOVE him. I don’t even say I ride him sometimes, I just say we had a battle. (Hopefully, I win.) He is awesome at a walk and trot, but ask for a canter and he thinks it’s bronco time, A couple of weeks ago Ramona and I were riding, All I did was turn him and he went nuts. He pulled a “Lone Ranger” and reared. Then he bucked, I lost my seat, and he took off with me dragging behind (stupid me) still holding the reins. If I would have let go of the reins, though, I would have been in the barb wire fence. YIKES! Needless to say, we are going to the trainer before the weather gets bad. (And yes I am okay.) I hope I will have many more (safe) adventures to tell about. Like they always say, ‘Just get right back in the saddle again!’ |
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