There is something special to be said about parents who support their kids in the sport they find they love. The parent that realizes the sport their kid loves and goes along for the ride regardless of the time they need to put in.
My daughter Julia – who is now 18 – let us know at an early age that she loved horses. In my mind – all young girls love horses from the age 4 on – so outside of a few pony rides, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. At age 5 Julia took her first riding lesson and from that day on she begged us to buy her a horse. My answer was always no – but in a desperate attempt to get my daughter to eat dinner – my husband Jimmy promised to get Julia a horse when she turned 12 if she finished eating. From that moment on – Julia would not only countdown birthdays – but half birthdays as well. Every September would bring her a year closer to her horse and every March would bring her 6 months closer. Julia talked about horses – day and night – night and day. Every piece of clothing she wore…horses. Every breath she took….horses. Right around the time Julia turned 10 there was a horse for sale at the barn she was riding at. So being the dutiful parents, Jimmy and I went to see this horse. This beautiful Quarter horse was a perfect fit for Julia and the selling point for Julia was…the horses name was Jewel. It was meant to be! Julia’s….Jewel. For the next 7 years we were a horse owner. Julia rode and Jimmy and I wrote checks. This horse obsession was so far from our idea of a sport – but Julia loved it and we loved Julia so a horse owner we became.
Julia has since gone to college and before her departure we made the really hard decision to sell her horse to a new owner who loved him as much as we did. It was a very emotional decision to make, but in the end we knew it was the best. It was sad however for all of us. My husband was the horse hand – he made sure everything was in order for all the shows Julia competed in. I was the horse show Mom who helped each rider to make sure they were ready to compete properly. My son James…he just complained about the smell.
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In the end – I’m pretty sure we could have bought a 2nd home with what the horse cost us – but I never could have replaced all the amazing memories and life lessons that Julia brought to us with her horse obsession. I learned a lot about caring for an animal and more so about how my daughter cared for someone besides herself.
My daughter is the love of my life and I recall fondly when I used to say to Julia “Why don’t you just do ballet?” She would say “Ya know what they say…buy a horse!”
