06/08/2026
You normally see me in my colorful pearl snap, jeans, boots, and cowboy hat rolling in the dust with my camera. Well, over the weekend, I traded all of that for tall boots and breeches.
Some of you may not know that I ride English horses too. I evented for many years on my personal horse, Sirocco. Once we decided to step him back, I got the wonderful opportunity to bring along a talented horse named Ryker.
The plan was for Ryker to make his debut at a CT (combined test—dressage and jumping) in the cross rails division, his first-ever jumping class at a show. As most horse people know, things rarely go exactly as planned. Two days before the show, he came up with an abscess.
I immediately started looking for another horse and got the opportunity to show Tango. Tango is currently training up the levels in dressage, but had only gone over a single jump a handful of times.
We loaded up early Saturday morning and headed to the show. In dressage, Tango helped me earn my personal best score of 88.5%—that test sheet is definitely getting framed and hung on the wall. He gave me absolutely everything he had, and we ended up taking first place in our division.
After that, we turned and burned around the arena—Friesian style—and took the fanciest victory lap I’ve ever had. It definitely wasn’t how I imagined my weekend would go, but it was incredibly fulfilling.
My handsome boy Sirocco is still getting out to some shows and packing girls around the jumping ring. He looks absolutely fantastic, and I’m so incredibly proud of him as well. He made sure to come home with a ribbon as well.
Now that the show is over, the tall boots are going back in the closet, the camera is coming back out, and it’s time to gear up for a busy couple of weeks behind the lens.
