Dedicated Rider Sophia Bates
Published: February 12, 2020
Author: Sophia Bates
Hi my name is Sophia Bates, I am 12 years old and in 7th grade. I have been obsessed with horses since I was about 5 and when my family and I moved to Montana In 2016 my dream came true. Within a few months of living here I started to take lessons at Cedar Ridge Equine. Since then I have come a long way in December 2017 I got my first horse, his name is Jupiter. He taught me so much about perseverance and responsibility. I think the summer of 2018 was when I fell in love with barrel racing. In 2019 I leased a horse named surfer girl she helped me learn the ropes of barrel racing. That was the same summer I meet Smallz. The first week of August I rode him to test him out, I loved him! So I talked to my family and we ended up getting him the 3rd week of August. I remember that day exactly I helped with camps in the morning. After that my mom came to Amy’s with a trailer we took Smallz to the vet to get a pre-purchase exam, he passed it. I was so happy. We came back to Amy’s at about 4:15 when I went to go unload Smallz Sue VanGalder (the owner of the horse and the summer camp/ Speed event coach) and my mom went to go talk inside the arena. At about 4:30 Sue came out and said “Congratulations you now own a barrel horse!” This was probably one of my happiest days of my life so far. I am so great full for every thing I have learned with Amy and Sue have taught me. As of right now I’m learning to get better each day. I’m going to barrel races with my friend Vivain and taking as many lessons as possible I cannot wait to see what this year as to hold for me!