My Hero's Journey

There are few moments in your life where you can realize who you are from someone else’s perspective, and how the world perceives you. Upon understanding this you realize who you want to be at that certain point in your life. These realizations make you question the company you keep and spend time with, because they ultimately change the way you think and exist for the rest of your life. On Sunday, January 18th at 3:30am I woke up excited and nervy. I felt this way because that was the day I would get to ride my horse on my first really tough trail with a group of equestrians known for their grit and love for extreme trails. For a significant amount of time before that day I had thought about how everything would play out. Would I impress

He smiled suddenly and said, “Go ahead and tack up your horses, we’re finna hit the trail in ‘bout twenty.” My mother and I walked towards the horse stalls to tack up and get ready. As we did so, we passed the concrete barn porch which was occupied by a large circle of men, talking and laughing loudly. Almost every one of them was tall, big, with dark skin and an intimidating way of carrying themselves. There was however, a short bald Mexican guy with a bandana wrapped around his head and a large knife strapped to his belt, who looked as though he was about to leap of the porch and attack me with it. As we passed by, their conversation stopped, and they just watched us with icy stares. We hurried on, tacked up our horses, and climbed swiftly onto their backs. Presently everyone else did the same, and then surged past us, urging their fidgeting mounts towards the stable entrance. As we made our way out onto the slick road the crowd of riders, about twelve total pressed all around me yelling at each other with friendly ease. We picked up speed as we turned onto the main road which was dead quiet due to the time of day. As we continued to ride, heading towards the base of South Mountain, I listened to the way the men talked, and I could see what my mom had meant

Both of his powerful back legs exploded up in the air, he arched is muscular back, and rocked back and forth from his front and back legs in an effort to shake me off. I held on tight and clamped my legs to his sides. As this happened I thought with fierce determination, There’s no way in hell I’m gonna fall off. No way! All around me the men cheered and whooped, yelling at me to hang on and ride the buck out. With this encouragement I was able to collect the reins and gain control of my rebellious horse. After this ordeal I received recognition and friendship from all of the tough gritty men who I could now identify