Come with me on my journey from seeing all the pretty horses in my backyard through entering and rising up in the competitive dressage world.
As is the same for many young girls, I early on caught the bug. I had my Breyer ponies lined up on my dresser, all unique but yet equally special to me. All the horse books, both fiction and non-fiction, neatly stacked on my bookshelf with well-worn and dog eared pages indicating the best parts. And I can’t forget Duffy, the imaginary black stallion I would ride around on the playground at school. My purple unicorn-themed bedroom with matching bedspread and border spoke of someone with singular focus: believing in the not-quite believable.
Any yet here I am, 25+ years later, walking out my front door and over to the barn that adjoins my property, saddling up my own beautiful and special horse, and slowly but surely learning what it means to love and care for a horse in real life. I am living my dream. And I want to share my experience with those who have dreamed the same but don’t know where to start.
Being an adult and trying to figure out how to make my younger self’s passion come alive has not been straightforward. There’s no ‘How to Guide’ on being a 34 year old woman who didn’t grow up at a barn or in pony club but yet wants to hop on a horse now and go win blue ribbons. There’s plenty of resources out there once you are part of the horse world. But how do you start? Where do you go and what do you ask for when you want to follow a passion that has such a high barrier of entry and so much risk involved, which are especially apparent as an adult?
This website will help answer those questions. Along the way, I’ll share the situations and challenges I’ve encountered, current gaps in my training and knowledge that need to be filled, and other resources I’ve found that are helping me move forward.
This will be a positive and safe space for me to share my experiences and you to follow along and participate with me.
Hypolyta 