Rewind a few years...
I was either five or six when I went to my first summer horse camp in upstate New York. Pony was the first horse I ever really rode. She was a flea-bitten gray mare with a signature move that was pretty mighty: The Super Shake. I ended up taking weekly lessons at this farm with my instructor Jen and rode Pony just about every time. My tiny little legs were no match for her super shake, so I ended up on the ground almost every time. My first big accomplishment in horseback riding, though, was when I managed to hold on during a super shake in my very last lesson with Pony and Jen. I will never, ever forget that horse or that instructor because they are the reason I fell so hard for this sport. I idolized Jen, and Pony was the best teacher and babysitter.
When we moved to North Carolina, I started taking lessons at Longwood Farm in Apex. I think my instructor's name was Sharon, but I don't remember much about my time there. The game changer was when we found MacNair's Country Acres and Camp Cheval. MacNair's is breathtaking, but it is so much more than that. It is 280 acres full of fun, unmatched beauty, love and horses made of pure gold. Now, it also holds some of my most cherished memories and a pretty good sized piece of my heart. I started in Camp Cheval that summer and never looked back. At a certain point my mom realized that this wasn't one of those "little girls love horses" phases, so she had me choose between the dance classes I was taking multiple days a week or the horseback riding lessons I was taking just once a week. For whatever reason, I chose the horses.
In no time at all, I was completely obsessed. I joined the 4H club, the show team, and found any excuse to get the barn. I learned how to wrap legs, pull and braid manes, clip, clean tack, and so many other skills that I am still so proud of. My first "show horse" was Lucy - a little chestnut mare with her forelock growing out of one of her ears. My best friend Chelsea and I spent night after night making lists of what we needed to prepare for our first big show and coming up with show names for our beloved school horses. I settled on Skip to my Lu. I loved Lucy (hehe), but she went lame before the big 4H show (gasp!), so I ended up showing Caramel. Caramel was a chestnut and white paint with a rocking horse-like gate. He had a reputation of being quite slow and lazy, but he turned it on at the horse show! I had so much fun waking up at the crack of dawn, getting my hair done into braided pig tails, and spending a whole weekend completely engrossed in the horse show life. If I wasn't hooked enough already, that definitely did it.
The following year I was assigned Vogue as my show pony. Vogue's show name is Strike a Pose, which I thought was the coolest thing ever. She was a diva back then (I know she has much better manners now in her old age), but she taught me so much. That year at the District 4H show, against 50-something other riders, she gave me a blue ribbon in the Short Stirrup under saddle class! This was more than a decade ago, but I remember that exact moment and feeling still to this day. At that particular show, they start with 10th place and work their way up to first, so the anticipation and excitement was just plain awesome. Vogue gave me many more blue ribbons in that year, and I was absolutely devastated when it was time to move up to another horse. I remember getting to the barn and crying because I knew I wasn't going to see Vogue's name next to mine on the lesson sheet.
The year I had to give up Vogue was the same year I got Snowball. Like I said, my mom fell in love with him during her time helping out at Larry's farm. If I'm being completely honest, I didn't think much of him and I certainly never thought he had the potential to be a show horse. But, December 24th, 2001 changed everything. My mom couldn't bear the thought of him leaving (because at this point, no one wanted him and the owners were just tired of paying for him), so she convinced my dad that he should be ours. She signed the check and I received the greatest Christmas gift a girl could ever dream of. My very own horse! All of my birthday wishes came true! If only it was that glamorous and simple...
I was only 11 and although I was a pretty strong rider, I had no business training a three-year-old. We had loads and loads of help from Larry and our favorite person on the planet, Beth, and before we knew it Snowy was in a show ring! About a year later my mom got an offer to work at MacNair's, meaning we could move Snowy there. I was so beyond thrilled I could hardly handle it! I used to drool over the "top barn" (where the boarders lived) as we passed it to go down to the "school barn" for my lessons. I mean, come on, it is horse heaven! We moved him there and had one of my instructors ride him, just to hear her say he didn't have much potential. He was only four! I was so disappointed, but we had no intention of giving up on him. We put him in a training program with the brave and wonderful Alta, and she worked the baby-ness right out of him! She started jumping him and showing him in the little shows at the farm. I was so proud of him for proving the naysayers wrong! While he was in training, I only rode him a few times a week myself. I was fortunate enough to have another horse, Clark, available for me to continue showing. Clark was grumpy and long and had the funniest lead change ever, but he was so good at his job. I loved him and am so thankful that I had the opportunity to ride him for the year. We even won reserve champion in the Junior division at the 4H show! By 2004, Snowy and I were an official team.
For the next 7 years, with the help of my amazingly wonderful trainer Nancy, we worked our way up from the 2' schooling divisions to the 3' adult divisions. He won me hundreds of ribbons and turned out to be the absolute best horse I'd ever ridden. No, he wasn't fancy. No, he didn't win those under saddle classes. Yes, he has his quirks, and yes, he gets mistaken for an appaloosa all the time. But he tried hard and worked hard and loved his job. He continues to teach me more about myself and life in general than anything else I've ever done in my 24 years. It's something I've learned is impossible to explain to other people, which means I have always gotten made fun of for being so obsessed with Snowy. I don't mind.
Snowball is my greatest accomplishment, my pride and joy. He has more personality in his little pink nose than most humans I know. He is the keeper of my secrets, my confidant. He is my teammate, my partner. He dances through baths (usually because he's found another pile of poop to lay in). He hugs me with his neck as I pull his mane because he knows I'll stop to hug him back. He stops to sniff every.single.pile of poop on a trail ride. He whinnies at me from across the field, no matter how long it's been since I've seen him. He grabs the lead rope from my hands and grinds it between his teeth - something I'll never understand, but always allow. He doesn't like to bend to the left. He doesn't mind getting on a trailer, but he hates getting off of them. He always speeds up when we're heading towards the gate of the ring. He loves blue Gatorade. He has the best mane to braid, but would prefer if my mom held a bucket of hay in front of him while I do it. He has the laziest buck/rear combination, but always did it in flat classes or if he doesn't want to do a lead change. He always stops in his tracks when I fall off, like he's saying, "oops." He's laid back and mellow and gets along with any horse. He is perfect.
Snowy has taught me patience and responsibility. He's taught me how to love hard and laugh often. He's shown me that imperfection is perfection. He's proof that hard work pays off and that the underdog always stands a chance. I am forever indebted to this horse for the way he has helped shape me into the person I am. And the funny thing is, he has no idea.
His blue eyes stole my heart all those years ago and have held onto it tightly ever since. Happy Birthday, Wise Guy!
