Inspiration

After my last post, I feel that I probably need to be more grateful for the horses and opportunities in my life. I am very lucky to own two talented warmbloods and a couple of thoroughbreds that have a good chance of success at the track and also in their second careers. The opportunity to ride is available 95% of the time. I believe that makes me very fortunate and I definitely need to remember that.

I wrote about jockey Anne Von Rosen and her accident over a year ago. If you weren't following me at the time, you can read about it here. Fourteen months later, she is back on a horse for the first time. A horse that she had won races on in the past too. Here's the story:

She was an inspiration before she got hurt, now even more so. No one has ever doubted that she would defy the odds. There is still a long road ahead of her, but Anne's hard work and positive attitude has already brought her an incredibly long ways. She is a truly unique and amazing person.

It's easy to get caught up in how our horses are going, worrying about the next show, or how to keep up with the latest equestrian trends. With horses, there are a million and one things that can cause us stress and anxiety.

The fact is that none of us has ever gone through what Anne has (and I pray that none reading this ever do). Most of us haven't even had to work as hard as she did before she was injured, much less have to work like she did to be on a horse's back again.

I'm not saying that the average rider's problems aren't problems. I do think that those problems might not seem as bad if we can just sit back and look at the larger picture because there is someone out there that is giving their all every single day to just have the opportunity to sit on a horse.

If you want to support Anne you can buy a Team Anne Von Rosen t-shirt at 

http://teespring.com/annevonrosen