4th in the NATION for Fourth Level Jr/Yr 🙏🏼⭐️🏆

4th in the NATION for Fourth Level Jr/Yr 🙏🏼⭐️🏆

How is this even real.

Sometimes, I ask myself why I got so lucky. Why am I so fortunate to have the opportunities that I do & why the universe felt that I deserved of such a thing? & then I stop. I stop & I think about the last few years of my life. I think about how for the last few years of my life, I wanted so badly to give up, catch a break, have it easier & drop it all in one second. I think about how for roughly 20 months of my life, I had to drag myself out of bed, I tore myself to pieces telling myself I wasn’t worthy of my dreams & wasn’t even remotely “good enough” for them. I felt that everything I was working for was such a waste. I hate saying that more than anything now because I do now know those are not true statements; but the reality is, that depression & anxiety can do some incredibly powerfully disastrous things to people.

I truly could go on & on, but I want it to be known that the fight is worth fighting for. Giving up is not an option; changing your path & mindset is. Pick one small thing to live & work for every day & soon enough those will become substantial victories. I am the epitome of that statement.

Last year, I made the comment that I couldn’t even say I had “always dreamt of competing at finals” because I never truly thought I was worthy of such a thing. As I come home from year 2 at US Dressage Finals, I have proven to myself that the old mindset is nothing but the past & that it is truly only up from here.

After Regionals in the beginning of October, Gucci had some substantial health problems & with very short notice, he made it known that he was sound & ready to compete at Finals. With just one ride in to prepare, I am just so utterly pleased with today. Gucci, thank you. You have made just the smallest dent in the list of goals & dreams I have with you & I know for a fact you are the horse for the job. We can & we will.

2024 has been the most memorable year of my life thus far; for the good & for the bad. After losing my childhood home & pets to a house fire in February, I had absolutely 0 expectations of this entire year. I just wanted to keep my head up. But, Gucci knew how to help me & he was there for me each & every day.

Mom & Dad; never-ending gratitude for you both. You make my wildest dreams a possibility traveling the East Coast with my dance partner in tow. Forever & always, thank you. Pam McCready; My second mother & Godmother - As I have said my entire life, thank you for sharing love, kindness, a shoulder to lean on & horses of a lifetime at every stage of my life. Thank you. x1000

& to all of my barn family & staff, thank you for keeping the barn afloat while my mom & I are away. It means the world. I’m always the first to thank my incredible Vet & Farrier, but after this last month, they deserve an extraordinary thank you. They are the reason I was able to get Gucci back to competition & he felt incredible. So many hours put in by both, working together to find an answer & giving me hope. It’s truly all thanks to them.

To the rest of my family for everything you all do to keep this crazy circus running; thank. you. I owe it all to YOU ALL. Thank you. That’s as simple as these overwhelming emotions can put it.

Just two weeks ago, sitting in Gucci’s stall, Cooper, my boyfriend, looked at me and said that if Gucci came back from all of this, it would be like a Rocky Balboa story—a comeback against all odds, a fight for something bigger than either of us. He was right. Gucci, my very own Rocky Balboa, reminded me that resilience has no boundaries.

4th in the nation; I can’t even believe it.