I'm sticking this in Riders Lounge cause all the posts in Winners circle are about the game and Id feel so awkward putting it there 😭)
Some background:
I used to never win. Like, I mean it. My former trainer built me up as a sort of buffer to make her nephew feel better and to boost his ego. (think: Seabuiscuit) I was put down, degraded, reamed out in public, shamed, yelled at, given silent treatments, forced to drop classes because I was doing so poorly, all that shit. I never won. Ever.
Last year in August, my parents finally yanked me away from that hellhole of a barn, and I got a new trainer, new horse, everything.
This year is my first full year on that horse, and he's my dream. He does everything and anything, and still manages to have a personality too. Over the last 3 months, I've been showing on a circuit I've never shown on before, and they have this award that goes to the horse/rider combo with the most points overall. (I show open/legit all around so there's lots of opportunity for points) I learned some new skills (jumping) and decided to go for overall!
This horse unfortunately has passed through some rough trainers in his upbringing and doesn't lope. Like straight up won't. We assume his trainers didn't know what they were doing and would just trope (trot/lope) him. But just this year the show introduced a ranch division, so we threw him in that instead of my age division.
And guess what? We're the first Grand Champions of that division in the history of the show series!
I also came in Reserve Champ Overall, which was totally amazing!
It's crazy what one year under someone who truly cares about you can do. I never would've believed that I would come home with my first two belt buckles during my first time showing at this series.
I used to be a nobody, and now I'm a somebody. And I couldn't be any happier :D
TL;DR: A year ago I was shit rider, now I'm a double belt buckle winner.
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