Since 2003, I have attended
a boot camp every summer preparing for Youth World. Boot camp requires a tremendous amount of
dedication and hard work, but I am driven knowing that all my competitors are
doing the same in preparation as well. Whether the other exhibitors put in time
at their trainer’s boot camp or at home doing it themselves, we all strive for
the same goal…having a good ride!
Over the past seven years I have
attended boot camp with three different trainers. The first was with Mike &
Charlene Carter in my home state of Tennessee.
I would like to give special thanks Charlene for never giving up
on me learning my diagonals as I trotted timelessly around the arena with a
hoodie on backwards to cover my eyes. Last year Vicky Holt helped me and I would
like to thank her for taking Zippy and me above and beyond our dreams.
This year was a first for
me as well. As this is my final year in
youth, I attended my first and last “Weis” style boot camp with Kendra
and Blake Weis of Moberly, Missouri. This boot camp was a little different for me
since I know that I won’t attend another Youth World boot camp, and especially
unique since I have a new partner, Structurally Correct, aka Oliver.
The first night my older sister
Ashley (she’s my other half so of course she was going to be there with me) and
I arrived. Blake had warned us that they were expecting a storm that night and told
us not to worry if it turned into a tornado because, “You will hear the
sirens.” As we were awakened in the
early morning by a torrential down pouring of rain and our living quarters trailer
literally rockin’ & rollin’, I couldn’t help think of the Wizard of Oz
since we were pretty close to Kansas and all!
So, needless to say, the
outdoor arena was flooded forcing us to ride in the indoor arena all week. At
first we didn’t think it sounded so bad to get away from the hot sun. That was until it quickly got extremely dusty
due to the fact that if we watered the arena it would make the footing really
slippery and risk injuring the horses. As Blake had us do our daily 45 minute
equitation exercises with NO break and NO irons and constant two-point,
posting, spurs on our toes, or any other crazy torture method he had, it soon
became impossible to even see three feet ahead of us from the dust. But in true boot camp style, we had no option
other than to keep going.
With seven girls in that
arena, Rachael Tearney, Maddie Vosburgh, Miranda Reed, Abbie Dishman, Amy
Fruits, my sister, and myself, it was a dust bowl like you have never seen and
it became mud when it hit our sweaty skin. With my eyes burning from the dirty
sweat dripping in them, I kept running one thought through my mind…these few
hours of pain can make a “world” of a difference in the few seconds
in the show pen.
At the beginning of the
week, it was looking like it was going to be a challenging one with Kendra and
Blake double-teaming us. Kendra (pictured here with my sister) was putting her judging skills to practice as
she scored each of our patterns. After a night of fun and grilling out at her
house, she sadly had to leave the next morning to really put her judging skills
to use at a horse show of all places, Tennessee. So we thought things were
looking up for us with one less trainer, but boy were we wrong! That was all
until Blake went Commando on us and picked up the slack of Kendra’s absence,
having us do all sorts of leg exercises and difficult patterns.
It seems like reality TV revolves
around weight loss and boot camp type shows these days, and I felt like I was
on one of those shows between Kendra and Blake double-teaming us. Now that I
come to think of it, Jillian Michaels, the fitness queen from TV shows such as
“The Biggest Loser” and “Losing It With Jillian Michaels,” was somewhat an
inspiration and kind of a theme for camp this summer. Some of the girls were
doing the workout videos by Jillian while others went out on runs. I used
Jillian’s methods as I was riding. Every time I thought I was at a breaking
point and couldn’t two point any longer, I would push myself harder by hearing
Jillian’s voice screaming at me “Post higher! Fifteen more minutes!” when in
reality it was really Blake’s voice…….so thanks Blake for being my Jillian: )
When our days turned into
nights, it was time to have fun and take a break from the physical and mental
stress. To celebrate the kickoff of Weis Boot Camp 2010, we all went to eat at a
great restaurant called Kobe’s. We did fun stuff every night such as shopping,
eating and movies but I will never forget one particular night that turned out
a little different for me. After a long day of sweat, heat, and dust Ashley,
Blake, and I decided at the last minute to go see a movie. So with no time to
spare, we didn’t have time to eat dinner. While Blake had popcorn and Reese’s
Pieces (that I snuck in the theater in my purse) for his dinner, I thought cheese
nachos sounded like a great meal to me! During the movie I began to get a
headache so Ashley slipped me some Tylenol. Well, needless to say, the Tylenol
and nachos did not mix well and my stomach! It was a good thing we were sitting
in the back row because, well to skip the nasty details, I personally refilled my
empty cup of Sprite as I snatched the cup and ripped the lid off in desperation
of not puking on the floor. Hey, at
least I got most of it in the cup!
While there was a lot of fun and games, I do want to take a serious moment to wish good luck to all my fellow
youth and thank them for being tough competitors throughout
my youth career. It is what made me strive to be better and work harder. No
matter what this Youth World brings me, I am thankful for all my blessings and
good health. Inside the arena is fun and games, but outside the arena is
reality. It is easy to get caught up in the moment and forget it is a blessing
to be able to show and ride.
Click here to view the full photo slide show. Thank you Rachael Tearney for the great pictures.
