The Beginning...

I think every little girl goes through a horse crazy phase. Not sure what it is about these beautiful animals, but something about them draws like a moth to a flame. However, while some grow out of it, there are others who stay that obsessed little girl for life.

I am one of those obsessed little girls. At 28 years old.

I realized at a young age that what I wanted most in life was my very own pony. At around age 8 or 9, I had a lockbox, lovingly decorated with puffy painted horses, that I would slip my monthly allowance into in hopes of one day purchasing a horse. Mind you, at the time I had had little exposure to horses, let alone actual riding time. No real lessons to speak of, and only a very basic knowledge of care and cost. Regardless, I was crazy about them. I had all the horse toys, starting with My Little Ponies, then Fashion Star Fillies, Breyers, basically any horse toy I saw, I bought. I endlessly doodled pictures of horses, subscribed to "Horse Illustrated", even contacted someone from a classified ad to come look at her horses for sale (which, needless to say mortified my mom and she promptly made me write back and tell them woman I was not serious)

My parents, in attempts to humor this obsession, would take me on trail rides, signed me up for a couple of horse camps, even got me a two english riding lessons. I even came close to leasing an old horse at some barn my dad found in the yellow pages, but it never panned out.

Flash forward through my teens, where my obsession dropped off a bit as I started to get more serious about school, and swimming. However, horses were still always in the back of my mind and anytime an opportunity came up to be around them, I took it.

It wasn't until I was in my early 20's, at my first "serious" job that I decided to take some legitimate lessons. I had the time, and the money, to finally really get into this horse thing. Little did I know, that was the beginning of the end and that the horse crazy little girl in me would finally get to realize her life long dream. A horse to call my very own.