Have a little Faith

It's taken me awhile to do Faith's update since hers is probably the longest. She's still doing a lot of the same, but has achieved so much over the last few years. I'm so proud of her and can't wait to see how she progresses with everything. She is always impressing me and I am absolutely her biggest fan ever!

We will start with 4-H. Faith has now been to everything from local 4-H shows, to Regionals, to State Championships 2 years in a row. Her first year she competed in Hunter and Dressage with her Arabian Johnny Cash. He impressed us all with how adaptable he was to each new show environment we took him to. They did well in Hunters, despite still struggling with some lead confusion at the time, and ended up Reserve Champion in the State at Training Level Dressage.

This year she took her brother's Paint mare Jazzy and competed Western, as well as taking her Paint pony Chip and competing in Hunters and Dressage. She did outstanding with both of them. Jazzy proved herself cool as a cucumber everywhere and they ended up ranking 7th in the State for Western Division.

Chip helped Faith  win Champion in the State at Training Level Dressage!

Faith has also committed herself to weekly lessons with my trainer riding her wonderful American Sport Pony, Mars...show name Kiss Me. They have been competing together the last two years and are currently competing First Level.

Last year they earned the area Dressage club's Training Level Young Rider Year End Award!

 Faith turns 12 in January, and wants to begin competing at rated dressage shows next year and work towards doing the FEI Pony Test. She is also riding in a clinic with JJ Tate in December.

Along with all her own horses and ponies to ride and compete, Faith is also always ready and willing to help me with my horses and my students' horses. She rides Nitrox (really well I might add) despite him being young and green. They actually look amazing together.

She also has been riding one of my students new horsey purchase, Santa. Taking him to shows and letting him get his feet wet in the competition ring, along with schooling him at home.

One of the things we are most looking forward to, is having Faith start to ride Pilgrim. I'm more than a little nervous, but her riding has improved so much that I think they are going to end up making an awesome team. The ultimate plus...he's ready for FEI Pony if she can handle him!

On top of all of this, Faith has done outstanding in her homeschooling. She has maintained a straight A average and is completely self motivated.