Most people want those expensive “made” jumper horses who do most anything you ask, but I wasn’t one of those people. For one thing, I don’t have that kind of money. I stumbled across Bandit when I first moved to my old trainer. She put me on this ragged 12- year-old flea bitten gray thoroughbred. He was skin and bones, and needed a lot of work. Believe it or not, this poor horse had been passed around by five different people in his life, and all five of them had given up on him. I’m not gonna lie, he was the least bit attractive.But to me, deep down, I knew there was potential. I knew there had to be more. The first time I rode him, he was very fast and was nervous, and didn’t know how to behave.

So what happened? Of course, I fell in love with Bandit. My mom ended up buying him for me for two reasons: because we could afford him, but more importantly, she had a feeling about him too. After our years together and many hard days of training and working, Bandit is now a good horse in and out of the show ring. He doesn’t always win,though. He isn’t exactly a “champion.” but he is a champion to me.

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