Personal Narrative: From Horses To Handspring

From Horses to Handsprings

“Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.” Vince Lombardi, Green Bay Packer coach.
This quote has been the foundation for my father's belief that team sports teach commitment. When I started middle school my father insisted that I do a team sport. At the time I had been riding horses for many years and was facing a fork in the road and had to make a big decision. At 11 years old I changed the course of my life by joining a team sport in which I have learned the value of personal commitment, strong leadership skills, and how to challenge myself to achieve both mine and my teammates’ goals. I grew up riding at my parents’ horse barn in Bozeman, Montana. I started riding when I was three and continued until I was jumping cross country jumps by age eleven. When I was old enough I started to learn how to jump and once I got the hang of it I was in love. Bigger, higher, faster, whatever I could jump I would. In September of 6th grade, my first year in middle school, I competed in my first big Three Day Event horse show in Missoula, Montana. My horse Sunny and I had a great performance, nailing all our jumps. My family owned Sunny for a little
I had no idea why she was asking me if I still wanted to ride. I was flooded with such conflicted feelings. I had been doing horseback riding for 8 ½ years; I couldn’t even comprehend not having riding as the center of my life. On other hand, I was becoming aware that I was getting really sick of freezing all winter at the barn, and constantly relying on an animal’s health in order to do my sport. I was so tired of the weather dictating if I could do my sport or not. Also, I was lonely at the barn. I wanted to be doing something with kids my own age. At that point, the only people I rode with were adults because they were the ones jumping the levels of jumps that I