At the exquisite woodland Hunter Jumper Facility, Brawley Farms  in Double Oak, Texas, we find an adorable horse and rider pair Ashley and Vintage “Bella”. This beautiful grey mare is a 9 year old Holsteiner, a breed that originates from the Schleswig-Holstein region in North Germany. These horses historically and originally were favored as coach horses and over time became more and more favored as riding horses. No question that Bella is favored as well. Ashley has a wonderful testimony to how horses have changed and empowered her life.

She actually started riding when she was just 5 years old with the intention that it would help to strengthen her eye muscles. When riding, we do not always realize how much eye training that we actually do, from having soft eyes to see the overall picture and to focusing our eyes past jumps and barrels to succeed at our individual sports. You see, when she was this young girl the lack of eye strength made learning to read more of a frustration than a pleasure. Ashley still remembers her first riding lesson at a show barn in CA,  where her mom was unsure of her desire to continue but Ashley assured her that she was hooked for life. Even though she could not see strong before, within weeks she noticed a change in her eyes, she was making out basic words and able to read simple sentences fairly clearly with her mother’s help. She knew she would never stop riding and they purchased her first pony when she was 7 years old. One of her fondest memories was the experience of the first shows with her pony at Thermal and The Oaks in California. Now, Ashley has Bella, who they bought about a year ago and they show together in the 2’6-3ft Children’s Hunter Classes.

Ashley wants everyone to know that no matter what people say, to stick to your heart and see how it can shape you as a person.

“I’ve been riding for almost 11 years and I love it so much! Riding horses is hard and a lot of people tend to give up. Yes it’s hard but why should you give up on something you love and enjoy? To this day forward, I have a great amount of passion for this sport. I don’t care what other people think of my riding or that I do not perform other more common sports such as soccer or cheer leading. I am so thankful for my trainers and my parents for helping me come this far and for not giving up on myself. All things worth having are going to have challenges but that is no reason to quit.”