There were two little girls, Marie and Michelle, who became friends through the love and passion of horses. They met through their fathers' friendship and the two blonde headed little girls began learning much about each other as they rode together most everyday after school and on the weekends at competitions. Being new to the horse world, Michelle was there learning all there was about the sport of barrel racing. Her farther felt that it was a good idea to invest in a younger horse, one that Michelle could begin a relationship with and together grow in the arena. With the help of Marie's mother, who had the eye for horses and matching them with the right rider, Michelle's father purchased her new horse. Although the cute little bay mare named Mercedes was a tad young and a bit green, they felt that with the help from Marie and her mother the match just might work. No one knew exactly how powerful the duo would be, but only time could tell.
It didn't take long before magic happened and the two were headed down the road winning saddles and titles galore. Soon Michelle and Mercedes were pictured on the covers of many lucrative magazines, articles were written, and everyone knew their name. As their popularity grew, the friendship between the two girls became distance. Marie became very jealous of Michelle and at times would be, well, a little mean to her. Being a teenager didn't help, and that jealousy grew inside of her with every accolade Michelle collected. The girls no longer were friends.
Life began teaching it's lessons that couldn't be changed or forgotten and as it did so, Marie realized how unfair she had been with their friendship. To have allowed that green monster to come between them was a mistake, something that she learned the hard way but a big lesson non-the-less. It became clear that she needed to make amends, thankfully not falling on deaf ears, and it didn't take long before the girls regained their bond as friends. Although this story had a happy ending, many aren't as lucky.
It is hard to gain and strengthen friendships throughout the stages of life. Most of us have one or two friends that have been around since young ages, maybe a few more from the teenage years, and a handful, with any luck, from the good ol' college days. By the time we reach adulthood, we have had hardships with the loss of friends and are lucky to have a few good ones still standing next to us. Now add the fact that most of these friends are competitors in the same arena, weekend after weekend, all striving for that win. How do we as barrel racers gain friendships, and even more importantly, make them last? This seems to be a tougher question than 'What is the meaning of life.'
The story above is obviously a true story of my own, a story that held the biggest lesson I ever learned in this sport. I realized that true friends do not merely stand behind you, but beside you, as many times those winnings can come to both. We all want to win, but watching your pal succeed and win can be fulfilling in another way. The ups and downs of this sport are fast and humbling; one day you and your horse are champions with heads held high, the next day your horse runs up the fence and leaves an empty hole. We are not just working with ourselves everyday in the pen, but with an animal who undoubtedly has a mind of it's own. We can't always count on them, so who do we count on to be there when the cards fall, the chips are down, when we are left stranded on the side of the road after a long weekend of shit, a blown trailer tire, and about 5$ in our bank account? Family, most certainly, as long as it's not the husband pissed that all his hard work just went down the drain with that 3rd barrel laying on it's side. Our mothers, who are often just as pissed because all they want is us to do well and they feel that same upset stomach as we do. Just as important, our friends, who will be laughing with us as two girls try to change a tire in the middle of the night, hoping the lugnuts match the only wrench in the truck. Did I mention it was raining and 30 degrees out?? :)
That's what friends do though. They don't yell because it's not their joint bank account, they aren't upset because you certainly aren't their child, but they bring laughter to an otherwise murky day. They listen when you tell for the umpteenth time every detail of that 15 second run. They offer advice when they can, different bits when one is in need, and even at times, their good rodeo horse when ours walks out of the stall on 3 legs right before that big race. Most importantly, they walk around Salinas rodeo screaming "I'm with the champion" even though all you did was place in a go round. They get drunk with you after a weekend of bad runs, come sliding into the bar on their knees just to make you smile, and make sure you get your ass back in the saddle the next day. These, these are my friends and I'm proud of each of them. I would never be the person and the competitor that I am today without their support, withouth them being honest with me and telling me I'm in the wrong, without, well basically, without them.
