My First Horseback Riding Show

The air was thin and icy. It was dark and cold outside. A blanket of snow covered the ground. The footprints in the snow led the way. We loaded the bus one-by-one as if we were animals entering Noah’s Ark. Statuesque beings sat motionless in their seats. Twenty pairs of eyes half-open stared blankly ahead fixated on nothingness. Our journey to the unknown was about to begin. The bus tired spun in circles like a child’s merry-go-round. Round and round they went like the thoughts in my head. I felt like a kid at the circus. Excitement and freedom swept over me like a cool, summer breeze. The road was long and unfamiliar. Time passed by so slowly as if the earth’s stopwatch had been turned off. The once frozen bus was not swimming in a sea of hot air. Our final destination was a small, almost-deserted town in Upstate NY. It looked as though a plague had swept through like a giant broom and devastated it completely. One after the other buses pulled up. A sea of yellow painted the once dreary canvas. Girls of all shapes and sizes descended onto the now colorful landscape. All dressed in tan britches, black boots, and smiles. The clan of riders filed into the ring like a colony of ants all with the same mission. This was my first mission. I was a soldier going into battle for the first time. The ant colony gathered in a circular formation. The sign-in table was engulfed and swallowed whole. Numbers were being handed out, one-by-one. 36, 17, 41, 54, 62, 12, 19, 38… The judge’s voice boomed over the speaker like the voice of G-d. Every crevice of the ring was filled with the loud, unclear syllables. Girls of horseback walked proudly and calmly into the ring. Horses arched their necks and pranced around as if they owned the world. Tails raised slightly, eyes beaming forward, chests massive. Hours passed by like days. My nerves built up like a roaring fireball in my stomach. One swift leg-up from my coach and I am propelled onto the horse. I land smoothly into seat of the saddle. I am welcomed with open arms. Together, as one creation, we walked into the ring to compete the mission at hand.