Here's to Horse Show Moms - Past, Present and Future

Here's to horse show moms past, present and future. You know, the ones who sacrifice having a life so their kids can live the dream because kids are their joy. It's time to thank the moms who get up at all hours to make sure we are on to school at 5:30am, who find us breakfast when nothing is open, who help braid, clean tack and polish boots. The moms who wipe a horse's dirty nose, scrape mud off our boots and trudge through the rain to see us show for our 2 minutes in the ring.

Perhaps you've had one of these special horse show moms and can recant numerous stories of what they've done to boost your riding career. I know my mom would get up at 3 am to braid horses with me to have money to pay for leasing and showing. She was there to hold horses at the ring, share in the joys of my good days and blue ribbons and wipe the tears on the bad days when you were thrown in the dirt.

Thank you to the moms today who allow their kids to learn, help find opportunities to ride and experience different levels of the sport, and who financially figure out how to work at the tack store, sell horse treats and squander grocery money to pay the horse show bills.

Thank you to the future horse show moms, who can't wait to put their babies on a pony for the first time and will  feel horrible the first time they fall off. The future moms, who will do the same or more for their little riders as their moms did for them to become another generation of amazing horse show moms.

Thanks to my mom, who without her I wouldn't be where I am today. Thanks to the moms today who keep our next generation of olympic riders on the map, and thanks to the future horse show moms who make little one's olympic dreams alive.

Horse show moms, you are one of a kind, loved, and never appreciated enough. Thank you for all you do and cheers to you, enjoy your day (which really should be at least a week!!)!

Happy Mother's Day!