“I grew up in the barn because my mom was an equestrian. So I guess you could say I have always been around horses. I’ve always loved them and like to think that even if my mom hadn’t been involved, I still would’ve found the sport. When I first started at around 8 years old, I spent a few years just learning to ride, learning how to sit on the horse, balance, turn, stop and go. Then I started moving into Dressage, a competitive form of horse riding. The word is French for training- essentially developing the horse’s movement and body how artists would use paint to create a beautiful portrait. It started as a way for the military to train their horses for battle, but now is a competitive sport featured in the Olympics along with many other world championships. I just love it because you can never achieve perfection. You are always striving for greater even in the Olympics because the world record is only 92% or maybe less. With this being said you can never really achieve perfection and I just love always striving to be greater. I can be a perfectionist myself and it can be a little frustrating at times especially because the horses are not robots. The horses can always have a bad day or a spook, so it just makes it extra rewarding when everything goes right. It is just a really special moment.”