In the morning before a show, I wake up with a stomach full of butterflies. If I had a time where I wasn’t nervous and excited before a show, it wouldn’t be normal for me.

9 a.m.: I wake up ready to prepare for a show. I am excited and nervous, but ready. I get dressed brush my teeth and run out the door. After the hour of getting ready, I see my big orange truck and get in, put it in drive and head off to the barn.

10 a.m.: On my drive to the barn, there is not much scenery, but good thing it’s only a 25 minute drive. I can’t wait to see my horse. Every time he sees me, his eyes light up and his ears perk forward. When I get there I see him and instantly smile. He knows every time there is a show because of what is involved in getting ready.

11 a.m.: I get there ready to work. First, I get all my supplies together. All of my supplies are in my locker, I keep hung up or in two tubs. One of the tubs is a purple pink color and the other one is a dark blue color like the sky with no clouds. There are also saddle racks. I have and English and western saddle. For shows, I always use both saddles. All my tack including the tubs need to go in my truck. My truck is covered in hair from having so much horse tack in it and dirt, some of of which may never come out of my seats. I try to put the dirty tack and other supplies in the truck bed, and it is especially hard to clean it when I put hay in the bed. Food is the most important, and I always seem to forget and remember it at the last second.

12 p.m: It is so sunny at this time of day, so I guess it is time to bathe my horse. He hates getting washed. He always moves around, so when I use the hose to rinse him off, I always end up getting drenched in water. I use this purple shampoo to wash him. The purpose is to make the white parts of his hair whiter. Almost every time I use it, I leave it in too long. You know what happens when you leave purple shampoo in too long, your horse doesn’t become whiter he gets a slight tint of purple. I get so mad because I know I left the shampoo in too long.

1 p.m: After washing my horse, which is always a hassle and takes me at least an hour to accomplish, I dry him off with this thing called a sweat scraper. It is surprising how much water is in a horse’s hair after a bath, but that is why we use a sweat scraper. After he is dried off, I put on the polos, which are also called leg wraps. I use these to keep my horse safe in the trailer in case, you know, we get into and accident. I also put on a sheet, which is basically like a blanket for horses. This is just to keep my horse clean.

2 p.m: When all that is finished, I put my horse into the trailer. He is so good at getting in the trailer. Most horses freak out, but he doesn’t. Then we head off to the show, we unload, and wait to show in the ring.

When I am preparing for a show, I feel at home. No matter how nervous I am, I always go back for another round of shows.