This I Believe commentary
I Believe…
I got my first pony when I was just six-months old, but I’ve been riding horses since before I was born. My mother was a professional show jumper, flying with horses over big obstacles while I was still inside her womb.
I loved horses immensely throughout my childhood. My pony was always my closest friend - I could tell him anything and everything. But as my adolescence set in, my interests, along with my hormones, began to change. Eventually I decided to sell my horses and start out on a new chapter. I spent the next few years touring different boarding schools and trying on new identities.
By the time I reached the age of sixteen, I was a wreck. A dark depression caused me to move back home from boarding school in Vermont to my parents’ house in suburban California. The house they lived in now was different, void of any of the comforts I had known as a child. I had no friends, or fields to play in. I had no idea what to do with myself there, and my depression deepened. I consulted my mother. I told her, “I just want to do something I’m really good at!” Hesitantly, she suggested that I consider riding horses again. It was at that moment that I remembered the incredible feeling of flight on horseback, mid-air over a jump, and the power of the symbiotic relationship between horse and rider.
I started riding again and immediately, the horses gave me a renewed sense of purpose. The stable provided a place of belonging and allowed me to build community. I was successful in the riding lessons and my self-esteem flourished. As I continued to train and compete, I learned great focus and work-ethic. The horses brought me out of my depression and into my own element. Horses had the power to turn my life around, and help me begin to thrive again. Without them I would not be where I am today. This I believe.
I got my first pony when I was just six-months old, but I’ve been riding horses since before I was born. My mother was a professional show jumper, flying with horses over big obstacles while I was still inside her womb.
I loved horses immensely throughout my childhood. My pony was always my closest friend - I could tell him anything and everything. But as my adolescence set in, my interests, along with my hormones, began to change. Eventually I decided to sell my horses and start out on a new chapter. I spent the next few years touring different boarding schools and trying on new identities.
By the time I reached the age of sixteen, I was a wreck. A dark depression caused me to move back home from boarding school in Vermont to my parents’ house in suburban California. The house they lived in now was different, void of any of the comforts I had known as a child. I had no friends, or fields to play in. I had no idea what to do with myself there, and my depression deepened. I consulted my mother. I told her, “I just want to do something I’m really good at!” Hesitantly, she suggested that I consider riding horses again. It was at that moment that I remembered the incredible feeling of flight on horseback, mid-air over a jump, and the power of the symbiotic relationship between horse and rider.
I started riding again and immediately, the horses gave me a renewed sense of purpose. The stable provided a place of belonging and allowed me to build community. I was successful in the riding lessons and my self-esteem flourished. As I continued to train and compete, I learned great focus and work-ethic. The horses brought me out of my depression and into my own element. Horses had the power to turn my life around, and help me begin to thrive again. Without them I would not be where I am today. This I believe.