Thank You
"Thank you," she whispered, looking down at me with a huge grin on her face.
"You're welcome," I smiled back at her as I responded, my heart filled with joy and satisfaction. I was hooked. From that moment on I knew I would be back as often as I could be.
Growing up, I struggled with one of the basic questions in life: "Why am I here?” As a young teenager I yearned to know what it was that I was meant to do with my life. Where would I be when I grew? What job should I do? Should I become a writer? Get married and have kids? I even once went through a time where I thought it would be cool to work in the medical field.
But no matter what I looked into, nothing ever seemed to stick for any significant length of time. Either: (1) I lost interest or (2) I found out some unappealing facts about the job that made me walk away. I really struggled for several years, and sometimes still do, with feeling like I am insignificant and have no real purpose in life. That is, until one particular day.
I have always loved animals. There’s just something about being around a creature that can’t communicate with us in words, but that loves us so dearly that many times they will put their own lives on the line to protect ours. I have been through just about every phase with animals that you can imagine. I spent some time wanting a horse, then a dog, and then a cat. I learned all I could about owls once (one of my most interesting animal related flings) and then somehow came back full circle to horses again.
If you were to ask me what one of my favorite features about myself is, I would hands down tell you that I love people. I love giving gifts, helping people, encouraging people. Even though I would describe myself as more of an introvert, there is something inside of me that loves being an encouragement to others. So when I was approached at sixteen years old by my neighbors to help volunteer at what they hoped would someday be a therapeutic riding center down the road from me, I jumped on it. Even when the plans fell through and they didn’t pass their certification tests, I still told them to keep me in mind if their plans ever did end up panning out.
One night, when we were all sitting around their kitchen table, they unknowingly planted a seed in my heart that would eventually lead me down the path to discovering what I was meant to do as my life’s work. Conversation had drifted back, once again, to their past plans of starting a riding center. Just out of curiosity I began to ask them questions about starting a center.
“You should look into the organization we were working to be certified through,” I was advised. I did. And less than a week later, I was started down the road to becoming a certified therapeutic horseback riding instructor.
I wish I could say it was all easy, but it wasn’t. There were lots of tears, doubts, and some amount of complaining along the way. I didn’t always want to pack up and go to the barn after working a long, eight hour waitressing shift, but I did. And in 2016, my hard work payed off as I was officially certified as a riding instructor.
Still to this day I don’t always find my job easy. There are days when I don’t want to go, days that I’m tired, and somedays I’m so discouraged with myself after a tough lesson that I wonder why I put myself through it all. But when it comes down to it, the love and dedication I pour into my work overwhelms all the bad days. I love coming into the ring and seeing my eager students as they ride around me on their horses. I am tickled by their smiles that show me just how freeing it is to be out of their normal routines, to be involved in an activity that is not only enjoyable to them, but helps them as well. I think back to that first day when I stood in the arena as a nervous new volunteer and was thanked by an amazing rider for the hard work I put into her class. I smile. And remember the things that my students teach me on a daily basis and how worth it is to me! And how I would never change this path (no matter how crazy and long it may have been) that life took me down for anything!