By: Reese Yan

Do you have fear? If so, what is it? Most people are either scared of the dark or bugs, but I’m afraid of something you might think is a bit weird. When you first look at me, you’d probably think I’m not scared of anything. Mostly, you’d be right. I’m not even afraid of watching horror shows at night. But, I’m afraid of horses and riding one.

Though this might seem ridiculous, I am scared of riding a horse because I’m scared of having an accident. Which makes me seem like a wimp. But, I have my reasons. In 5th grade, when I was in camp, a boy from my class broke his arm. At first I was like “What did he do? What can he possibly do to fracture a bone?” However, I eventually heard the news that he broke his arm from riding a horse. Although I wasn’t the one who broke my arm, since I already broke it once when I was little, I am very afraid of breaking it again. One of my phobias is also Acrophobia, fear of heights, so going on a horse could be scary sometimes. But recently, I conquered my fear.

On October 8th, a friend of mine from my neighborhood asked me if I wanted to go horseback riding with her. And out of my boredom, I agreed. Although I hated the thought of horseback riding, I still accepted because I wanted to hang out with my friend. As soon as I said yes, I regretted my decision, but since I wanted to conquer my fear, I decided to stop being a coward.

The next day, when we arrived, I felt excited but also anxious. We got registered and got going. Before it was time for us to get our horses. While we were waiting,my friend told me the last time she went horseback riding here, there was a horse called Trooper. She said Trooper always eats grass during the ride and can break out of his rein. And at that moment, my fear of riding horses popped into my head immediately. I thought about what I was going to do when I got Trooper. But I knew I wasn’t going to get him since I’m not that unlucky.

We eventually went in and got our helmets on. Then, it was time. As she called me she said I was partnered with Trooper. At first, I thought I was just unlucky. I remembered what I said to my friend, “I don’t think I will be that unlucky to get Trooper.” And then I knew it, I jinxed it. I knew from the beginning this was going to be a disaster that was only going to get worse.

After everyone got on their horse, we got going. However, this one guy’s horse would not move. It just kept eating grass. Because of that, we had to stop and wait for his horse in order for us to continue moving. Although my friend said Trooper was bad I think that guy’s horse was worse.

The ride felt like it would never end. And at the end of the ride, as I got off the horse I felt like an astronaut coming back to earth after 1 month. I could barely walk!! Despite that, the good thing was that Trooper was pretty cooperative with me. So I started getting more comfortable with riding on him. Because of Trooper, I also thought horses weren’t that scary to ride on anymore.

Therefore, because of this experience, I finally wasn’t afraid of horses anymore. But that doesn’t mean that I will have my guard down while riding them again. I enjoyed riding horses so much that I was even thinking about going again!