11/26: "It is hard for people to understand what it means to be a true equestrian. My love for horses has been something that i have been blessed with my whole life, but even more my chance to be involved with horses has brought me more than I could have ever imagined. My mom has given me the unltimate gift I could have ever asked for by getting me involved in riding and supporting me NONSTOP since I first fell in love. Horses will forever and always be the love of my life and I honestly dont think I could continue without them. Riding is more than just a sport or a hobby; it is a life style and sacrafice is the key word. I sacrafice more time, energy, money, and other activities so I can ride. But not just ride but ride well. I dont have time to "chill" or watch tv during the week because as soon as i get home from school I leave for the barn and dont get home until nearly 7. Then I have to do all my homework and find time to eat and shower before I crash. I don't go out on the weekends so that I can go to horseshows or spend more time at the barn. Every ounce of babysitting money I make goes towards riding and I don't ever have extra money to spend going out because all my time is put into riding and I dont have time to get a job. But it doesnt even matter and I dont complain because riding is all worth it. It has kept me out of trouble for the most part and has kept my grades up in school. Riding has taught me sportsmanship, to take care of your horse before your own needs, to committ, not to get discouraged, to have courage and faith in yourself and others, and to have fun all at the same time. Riding is not a leisurly sport. It is a sport that requires you to give all you have from 4 am in the morning to 10 pm at night. It is more competative than any other sport i know of, and yet the people who compete are all friends. The girls I ride with are amazing and are my second family. We compete against eachother, with eachother, and support eachother no matter what the outcome. I dont know what other sport I can say that about. I want to be the best rider I can be and I know how hard it gets on my family. It requires a tremendous amount of money and energy from everyone and they all work around my schedule so I can ride and I thank them sooo much for it. It means more to me than anything in the world. All I want to do is work harder so I can become better and better and better. I want to be the best I can be not only as a rider but in everything I do. Horses have taught me more than any person has and I thank God everyday for the amazing role horses have played in shaping me into the girl I am today." ~Brooke Zotara

11/24: "Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway." ~Anonymous

11/22: "Your life is an occasion. Rise to it." ~Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium

10/19: "Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple." ~Dr. Seuss

9/22: "In seven words or less: Great game last night!"

8/1: "Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure."
~Edward Eggleston

7/28: "Riding a horse is not a gentle hobby to be picked up and laid down like a game of solitaire. It is a grand passion."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

6/9: "Enough is as good as a feast"
~Mary Poppins

5/13: "I'd rather have 30 minutes of greatness than a lifetime of nothing special."
~Steel Magnolias

4/15: "You miss 100% of the shots you never take."
~Wayne Gretzky

3/30: "Setting a good example for children takes all the fun out of middle age."
~William Feather

3/27: "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

3/22: "Maybe the ones who had it easy are missing out on part of the adventure."
~Martian Child

3/20: "I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it."
~Pablo Picasso

3/04: "Remember kid, there's heroes and there's legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid. You can never go wrong."
~The Sandlot

2/25: "Intention is immaterial till it manifests itself in an act."
~Baron Bramwell

2/21: "Opportunities to find deeper powers within ourselves come when life seems most challenging."
~Joseph Campbell

2/15: Principium est potissima pars cujusquerei.
The beginning is the most powerful part of each thing

2/14: Happy Valentine's Day!
*LYLAS*
Love you like a Skibgirl

2/9: "Horses and children, I often think, have a lot of the good sense there is in the world."
~Josephine Demott

1/10: "The greatest of faults, I should say, is to be conscious of none."
~Thomas Carlyle

1/09: "Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not. When you race them, they will win."
~Unknown

12/30: "There is something about jumping a horse over a fence, something that makes you feel good. Perhaps its the risk, the gamble. In any event, its a thing I need."
~William Faulkner

12/29: "The air of heaven is that which blows between a horse's ears."
~Arabic saying

12/28: "Pain nourishes courage. You can't be brave if you've only had wonderful things happen to you."
~Mary Tyler Moore

12/13: "If you aren't in pain, then you aren't trying."
~Krissy Godios

12/12: Danielle: "This lesson is way too hard. Can't we do something easier?"
Chrissie: "Sorry ladies, I only teach riding."

11/26: "Whether you think you can or you think you can't, you are probably right."
~Henry Ford

11/19-25: HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

11/16: "Plans are only good intentions unless they immediately degenerate into hard work."
~Peter Drucker

11/15: "Few things are impossible to diligence and skill. Great works are not performed by strength, but by perseverance."
~Samuel Johnson

11/14: "You can't steal second base and keep one foot on first."
~Fortune Cookie

11/13: "The definition of success-- To laugh much; to win respect of intelligent persons and the affections of children; to earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to give one's self; to leave the world a little better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm, and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived--this is to have succeeded."
~Unknown, sometimes attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson

11/12: "Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."
~Aristotle

11/09: "Promise me you'll never forget me, not even when I'm 100, because if I thought you would I'd never leave."
~Winnie the Pooh

11/08: "Strong feelings do not necessarily mean strong character. The strength of a man is to be measured by the power of the feelings he subdues, not by the power of those who subdue him."
~William Carelton

11/07: "You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."
~Dale Carnegie

11/06: "Courage is being scared to death- and saddling up anyway."
~John Wayne

11/05: "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind won't matter and those who matter won't mind."
~Dr. Suess

11/02: I believe in pink, I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.
~ Audrey Hepburn

10/30: "A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort."
~Herm Albright

10/24: "Failure is not the only punishment for laziness; there is also the success of others."
~Jules Renard

10/23: "Self-confidence is the first requisite to great undertakings."
~Samuel Johnson

10/22: "There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a person."
~Unknown

10/19: "All happy people are grateful. Ungrateful people cannot be happy. We tend to think that being unhappy leads people to complain, but its truer to say that complaining leads people to becoming unhappy."
~Dennis Prager

10/18: "The best riders not only master the technique of riding, but learn to know, understand, and love horses, becoming not just good riders but 'horse people.'"
~Michael Korda

10/17:  A man can fail many times, but he isn't a failure until he begins to blame somebody else.
~John Burroughs

10/16:  "Plane tickets to Florida for me and Chrissie: $500.
Dinner in Florida for me and Chrissie: $60.
Horse: $95,000.
Looking like an asshole all the way around the ring: Priceless."
~Danielle