Assignment 8 - Stephanie Bailey

Fears: Losing the ones I love, losing friends, anything horror (I hate horror movies and fright night).

Annoyances: People that chew with their mouths open, know-it-alls, and people who refuse to see equestrians as athletes.

Accomplishments: First in the state for horse back riding in my division, raising a young horse to a successful point in his life.

Confusions: Why the world can't just get along and everyone just love one another.

Sorrows: I exclude myself when I thing others are too cool, pretty, or good for me (work in progress).

Dreams: To be an equine vet, to be a professional rider, to be a riding instructor.

Idiosyncrasies: Equestrian

Risks: Jumping Grand-Prix heights (really want to do).

Beloved Possessions, Now and Then: My stuffed animal wolf from my last day living in Arizona when I was four years old (then), My horses (now), and my car (now).

Problems: Balancing school, horses, and a social life.

 

  I am most scared of losing the people and animals around me that I love. When you ask most people, they would say they are more afraid to die themselves than to watch someone else die around them, but I disagree. I am not necessarily afraid of death, I have a healthy respect for it, but I don't let it rule my life. I have to face the fact that every time I ride my horse, or get in a car, or travel on a plane, that I may not live to tell about it. That won’t take control of my life though. It is much harder to lose a close friend or a family member because you then have to live with that weight your whole life and know you will see them again someday but not soon (hopefully).

  Now for the issue of horseback riding being a dangerous sport, I love horses more than anything, and that will never change. I just have to live with the fact that the animal has a mind of its own and could easily kill me if it was so inclined to do so. Horseback riding is the only sport in which the ball is sixteen times the size of the player and can think for itself. When I fall, I fall from eight feet off the ground, and when I fall incorrectly, I could easily die. My partner is 1600 pounds and my team works as individuals after the same goal. Equestrians practice year around; the snow doesn't stop us from going out and working just as hard as we would if it was 100 degrees outside. But I will never stop loving this sport and I will never be so afraid of death that I am dragged away from it.