Dani's Diary

[daniellaaarisen]

Vivfox suggested that I start this thread, so I suppose I will! Apparently, I have some interesting things to talk about, both FM and non-FM related-- my experiences meeting Mick and Stevie and flirting with Lindsey (buahaha), my extensive work with horses, my aspirations as a writer, my close ties to France... I've recieved a few questions about the following things in private messages, so I guess this can be a place to just kinda share what I do....?? We'll see what it becomes.

First post: horses

On the West coast, my equestrian sport isn't taken very seriously, especially when compared to the hunter/jumper scene back East. Because of that, the few of us who take riding seriously have a better chance of success in the horse world than all of the serious riders on the other coast.

I own one horse, Sebastian:







Over the past three years, him and I are achieved a lot more than I would have ever imagined-- I basically trained him myself, considering he was absolutely psychotic when I first bought him. A year later, him and I were showing against horses ten times his price ($200,000+) and kicking their butts We were ranked 3rd on the West coast in 2007.

Unfortunately, he was badly injured in January of 2008 and it took six months for him to heal. After vet bills like you couldn't fathom, he was finally healthy again-- but for a price. My parents were exasperated and with the recession slowly becoming a more and more prominent issue, we needed to move him from my stable to a field 2+ hours away from my house. Although my family is financially able to bring him back to me at this point, they are enjoying the ability to have "wiggle room" again. And so, to my complete devastation, there's a great chance I will never be able to show my own horse again-- I have one year left of high school and by the time I'm out of college, he will be old and crickety.

It's not all bad, though-- his absence has given me the time to basically intern for some of the greatest California trainers. I am paid to train young horses and "problem" horses. I then bring them to horse shows and if we "ribbon" (recieve top marks), I am paid based on our placings. It's an awesome experience, especially since the path I am on logistically leads to a career in horse training. I'm just wholeheartedly dedicating to writing and hopefully teaching-- it just feels like a waste to have such phenomenal experiences handed to me in the equine industry and throw them away for a job that is no where near guaranteed.



So yes-- that's chapter one, I suppose. It's so weird to write about myself on a forum about something entirely unrelated.... sorry if this is just weird, haha.