My First Love, Part 3

When I was in 6th grade, my parents gave in and agreed that it was time for me to have my own horse. My trainer put out feelers with her contacts to find me one. Shortly after, she was informed that there was a horse boarded at a barn across town that had just gone up for sale. She was a bit older, but was a veteran show horse who had been winning on the show circuit in LA County. Her name was CC with a show name of Critic's Choice. A little, shiny bay mare, she was as cute as could be. My trainer and I went to the barn across town and tried her out. She was nice, a little stubborn - which is typical of a mare, but she seemed like a good fit for me.

We decided to bring her back to my barn and try her out for a week before making a decision. Things went well during the trial, and after a couple of weeks she was mine.

This, however, is the one and only picture I have a CC. It was a short-lived partnership between the two of us. As we trained for the upcoming show season and pushed her a bit at the jumping, we realized why she had been sold in the first place. She had become sour which meant she had lost the desire to jump. I would estimate that during the time that I owned her I jumped about 75% of the fences WITHOUT her. She'd stop and I'd fly over her neck onto to the ground on the other side of the jump. I was only about 10 at this time so my trainers would often get on to work her and she would even stop with them. She was not the horse for me and over time fear set in and I didn't enjoy riding her or anyone else. It's not fun riding a horse when you fall off of it all the time. I got scared and, even though I always "got back on" I wasn't having any fun. We finally decided to put her back up for sale. Luckily, we were able to sell her, but my confidence was shot after having this little horse. We were in the market for a new one, but I wasn't so sure a new one would help my confidence.