Love At First Sight

Exactly one year and two days ago, I was sitting in an airplane on a direct flight from LAX to Amsterdam.

Meeting Esso

Ever since I started riding, I wanted a horse of my own. For seven years, every Christmas and every birthday, a horse was always the top item on my wish list. My parents, however, made it clear to me that a horse of my own would not be a part of my immediate - and even not so immediate - future. That is, until about a year and a half ago. Around that same time I started riding with my current trainer, Kristina Harrison. When my parents told her that we were looking to buy a horse, she immediately suggested that we fly to Holland, and find a horse there through international Grand Prix rider Bert Rutten.

So, there I was, about half a year later, anxiously awaiting my arrival in Amsterdam. When the plane finally did land, my dad, who happened to be near Amsterdam on a business trip, picked me up from the airport. We drove to our hotel in Weert where we would be spending the next two nights, dropped off our luggage, and headed straight to Bert's stables. There we met up with Krisi who had arrived in Holland about one week before I did. She immediately told me about this amazing horse she had in mind for me - talented, willing, and good-natured. Oh, and there was just one other little thing she thought I should know. Esso was three years old, and had only been under saddle for sixty days.

We weren't looking to buy a baby, but Esso and I were a perfect match. It was love at first sight. He was the first horse I rode in Holland, and might as well have been the last. It's been a year since I got Esso and not a day has gone by that I don't feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have him.