As a child I remember always having a horse around, and attending some pony camps in the summer. When my parents divorced and I was moved from Maryland to Washington, there were no more horses for me as I went through high school and college.


*Photo courtesy Karen Patton*

I always dreamed of having my own horse someday but it did not become a reality until the summer of 2005 when my friend Lara invited me out to ride with her. I met Dee the Arabian that day, and a few weeks later she became my very own first horse. Lara and I would ride together 3-4 times a week. I lost Dee to colic on Oct 24, 2006. Even from the short year that I owned her we had such good memories (including my first halter show, and running barrels with her in an English saddle!). I have to thank Lara and Dee for getting me back into horses again. I did not realize how much I was missing. Now I will never be without a horse!


*Photo courtesy Matt Bobbitt*

My aunt Kim was kind enough to send me her horse MSF Sinwaan. He is a 1997 flea-bitten grey Egyptian-bred Arabian gelding. Sinwaan arrived in May of 2007 and traveled here all the way from Virginia. He has turned out to be an awesome horse for me, and I am honored to have him as my equine partner.



Photo Courtesy of Lara Hall

MSF Sinwaan and I entered our first Limited Distance endurance ride on Sept 1, 2007 at the Lakeview Ranch in Odessa, WA. Our trail partners were Lara riding Rocker. It was a 25 mile ride but we missed a turn so we ended up going an extra 3 miles. It was a perfect day for a ride and the trails were a good combination of easy fast double track and also some very technical rocky single track. Sinwaan scored very good on his vet card, all A's at the first vet check and only one B on the final check. He took very good care of himself and we had a wonderful time. Unfortunately due to the extra mileage - and also some time lost having to knock the sand out of his rear interference boots three times - we came in 2 minutes over time. They were kind and gave us a completion prize anyway. We hope to make it out to a few more rides in 2008.
 

Shana in the middle.
Moonlight Ride, Benington Lake, October 2006

  
Photo credit : Matt Bobbitt