Always be a unicorn

By: The Pony Post Grad on 11:10 AM

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For me this silly phrase has even more meaning, because one of my horses I ride is nick named the unicorn! When I read that quote it kind of made me laugh, because the times I am most like myself are when I'm in the saddle.

 There are a lot of things that concerned me when I decided to run for Miss Grand National, am I skinny enough, country enough, pretty enough, should I go blonde. But one of the biggest issues I had was am I the right rider?

Sure I've won multiple awards and was an NCAA athlete, but my skills are and eclectic; one minute I am flying around a course on a 17 hand hunter proper in polos, next minute riding and sliding with my reining pony (cause let's be real 14.2356789 hands is not really a horse).

I have competed in all avenues from AA to the World Show, but I often find times where I worry I don't "fit" in a particular riding role. I got to thinking, I realized it's not about what you ride, it's how you ride. Is Beezie Madden and less an athlete than Trevor Brazile? Sure one dives off a horse after a cow and the other jumps fences taller than my house. But they are both amazingly talented riders with more skill than my pinky.

Is there something that makes a hunter any less talented than a rodeo rider? The answer is no.

Though there are days that my horse and I plow through jumps, or my stops are more jerk than sliding. But as a whole the main thing that makes myself, or any other talented rider truly talented is the ability to adapt. It's being able to take 1200lbs of holy freaking crap and make it look effortless.

Though I may slightly ok largely miss my mark some days, I am constantly working to get better. As my reining trainer says, the only way to win is wet saddle blankets.

Of course a dose of good humor doesn't hurt!