Take the Reigns

You'll never be good enough...
You're just not cut out for it....

These were the words that haunted me each night. They echoed in my head like a scrached CD that kept skipping...over and over and over again. They kept me back from doing what I wanted to do most. Barrel racing.

I first saw the competitions at a rodeo. The horses were fast. They cut around the barrels like wildfire, sending up a spar of dirt and racing against the clock. I was hooked. It was the coolest and most exilarahting experience of my life! I wanted to try...I wanted to do it. To race like the wind on the back of my partner and beat the clock. I wanted to feel alive and free. I wanted to fly!

The day I tried out for the training instruction, I was turned away. "She's too light," one of the instructors whispered to another. "She'll never stay on the horse."

I was heartbroken.

Too light? What the heck?! I thought being too heavy would be a problem! I decided to train on my own. It would be hard...I would have to rise early in the morning and go to bed late. I would train all day, four days a week.

For months I tried, and for months I failed. I only had six weeks until the competition! What was I going to DO? I then realized -in my mind- that I they were right. I was too skinny. it was hard for me to stay atop my mount, and even harder to turn him.

The day I was about to quit, I was confronted by my best freind.

He had been watching me. He saw my failure...but he also saw my chance. "You're good with that horse." he told me. "I've seen the way he responds to you. Don't give up. This is your chance, not only for winning...but for lraning as well. If you learn from your mistakes, then you'll make it."

He also told me...that it wasn't anything physical holding me back. It was my own self. As long as I decided that I just wasn't cut out for this, then I wouldn't be. As long as I was negative...I would fail.

This helped me. I understood exactly what he meant...and with newfound confidence, I trained even harder than ever. I could do this! This was me. I had been riding for years, and I wasn't going to let some stuck-up, snobby rich people bring me down.

The day came for the event.

I went up and entered the competition. I was number six...my favorite number. Believe it or not, this actully made me feel better.

As I heard them call my number and entered the starting gate -people snickering behind me- I felt my spirits drop. Then, my friend waved to me from the stands. I smiled. He had come!

I heard the announcer call out the starting time. Leaning forward in my saddle, I kicked my heels, took the reigns...and proved them wrong.