Katie has always wanted a horse but her parents told her they are too much or they are too hard take care of. The cost of feed, vet bills, keep and so on would be way more than they could afford but they agreed to let her take lessons at a near by stable. She was so exited for her first lesson she could barley focus that day at school. Before she knew it the day was over and it was time to go to her lesson. They went to a stable called Bit By Bit ranch and it was a lot smaller than what Katie had thought but that didn’t bother her she just wanted to ride.
The met the owner and teacher Ms. Leanne who was going to be her coach. Ms. Leanne showed Katie how to catch the horse, groom, and how to tack it up. Ms. Leanne said that she would be riding Diego, a cute older pony who was said to be harmless. They lead Diego out to the riding ring and Katie got on. Ms. Leanne showed her how to hold the reins and how to steer. Then they walked around the arena and did some circles. Katie had a huge smile on her face the entire time. At the end of the lesson Ms. Leanne asked if they would like to keep going and if she wanted to do English or Western. Katie said yes and that she would like to do Western. She asked if in doing Western if she could learn to do what she wanted to do barrel racing and pole bending and Ms. Leanne said yes which made Katie very happy.
She kept going to lessons every week and kept getting better and better. She learned how to trot and lope. By now she had been riding for almost a year and was ready to start learning new stuff. She is now intermediate and riding a horse named Molly Sue who was a Black Quarter Horse. She was a trained barrel and pole horse and Katie was excited to be on one. She stated learning some patterns and that was always a fun activity to do to change things up a bit.
Before she knew it she had become very good on a horse. Katie and Molly Sue had become more like a team because they learned how to listen to the signals they were telling each other. Katie finally got to the point where she could start learning how to barrel race and pole bend. They started out slowly just to get used to it and then they started to pick up the pace. After months of hard work and dedication there were ready for their first barrel show. They loaded up all that they needed for the day and headed to show. They unloaded Molly Sue and Katie tacked her up. Ms. Leanne said they should go to the practice ring and warm up so that Molly didn't pull a mussel.
It was almost their turn to run and she was getting nervous. Ms. Leanne told her to not worry about all the other people and just focus on doing your best. So when it was their turn to run that is what she did. They ran to the first barrel and then on to the next. They had done great with a time of 19.937. Ms. Leanne said that they did awesome for their first time and they ended up placing in 11th. They may have not one anything but they did amazing. On the way back home Katie’s parents told her that they did fabulous and asked if she wanted to keep doing it. Instead of going straight home they went to the barn and Katie didn’t know why they were going to the barn. When they got there Katie’s parents had a surprise for her. They went into the barn and there was a new horse in the barn and they told her that this is Maggie and she was hers. Katie was so excited and couldn’t wait to ride her.
The next day they went to the tack shop and bought a brush set, a new halter, a saddle, a new bridle, a saddle pad, and some treats for Maggie. They went to the barn and Katie got to ride her new horse for the first time. They walked, trotted, loped and they messed around some so that they could get used to each other. When they were done Katie untacked and gave Maggie a treat. Ms. Leanne told Katie to bring Maggie to the arena when she was done and they did some trust activities to get them to trust each other.
