Riding horses gives junior Emma Clardy a sense of freedom. It allows her to escape for at least a little while when things get hectic.
“Riding horses brings me peace and happiness,” she said. “All the negativity is closed off from the world.”
Clardy has been riding horses since she was 4 years old.
“I try to go whenever I can, most after school and on weekends,” she said. “I used to do sessions teaching children to ride ponies, but now I do free riding on my horses.”
Horseback riding has changed the way Clardy views herself and the world.
“It’s changed my perspective on friendships and relationships and the world in general,” she said. “I have to say horseback riding has changed me to be a better person. I used to be so naive and so wild and now I am able to analyze the world better and able to sense stuff, more down to earth.”
Clardy inherited the horseback riding gene from her mother.
“She got me into it when I was real young,” she said. “My mom actually had a horse named Buttercup.”
She may also be a horse whisperer.
“When I started getting back into horseback riding at 12, Duke was my assigned horse,” she said. He wouldn’t let anyone ride him at all, and I snuck around the trainers and went around him. They were surprised I was able to bond and touch him, and ever since I’ve built a relationship with him. I am the only person that he lets touch him he doesn’t like anyone else including my brother, surprisingly.”
Duke, an American quarter horse mixed with Mustang, is Clardy’s favorite horse.
For anyone wanted to learn riding, Clardy says to not be scared.
“A lot of people that I’ve trained get scared and pull or kick on the horse in a way that upsets it,” she said. “You should feel the horse’s body and warmth and build a connection with it to ride it. Eventually, you will be able to ride it bareback and the overall experience is really nice.”