The rust colored stall wall is cold and hard against my back as I slide down into the shavings, the stall is currently occupied by a young horse I am working and competing with. My breath is coming in short shaky gasps as I allow myself to feel. I am at show facility on a Thursday afternoon, the grounds are fairly deserted due to it being a week day. My assistant and a few friends are watching the jumpers in the other ring and I had to walk away to address some of my feel

When you look at pictures on the internet of horse riding instructors, we are often seen standing in the middle of an arena. We are surrounded by students on the rails, and spectators on the outside watching and observing. We stand in the middle of the arena with our hands on our hips, and with a hat or sunglasses on in order to dull the sunlight down to a tolerable level. Our cellphone is either in a case on our hip or delicately tucked underneath our pant line so that i

A-L-E-X-A-N-D-E-R ... the steady beat of the soundtrack to "Hamilton" is playing through the speakers in the truck as my daughter and I drive down the back roads between towns on the way to a horse show in the hill country. We are singing along and laughing and trying to get all the words to the rap sections and giggling uncontrollably when we cant. The road seems to stretch for miles upon miles ahead of us. We both lean back in the truck seats a little deeper to get more

My chest tightens as I sit outside the arena on a big horse with an inky black mane and tail. His coat glistens under the lights in the main stadium, with the slightest sheen of sweat from our warm up a few minutes prior. I feel a hand on the back of my calf, "Karlie are you ready?" .... Not even a little bit, I hear myself whisper in my head but I look down at my trainer and smile. "Yes Ma'am" I tell her as I hear my name over the loud speaker as next in the arena. My v