People ride horses because they love it. Ask any rider, most of them love it and hate it sometimes, and they couldn't imagine their life with out it. Its part of them, the love/hate relationship. its what they live for. They live for the practices, parties, cheers, long truck/trailer rides, invitationals, countless pairs of boots for horse and rider, water, Gatorade, & coaches you love and admire. They live for the way it feels when they beat that other rider knowing those two extra lead changes they did in their lesson were worth it. They live for the way they become a family with their barn friends, they live for the countless songs they sing in their head while training all those hours. They live for the competition, they live for the friends, the practices, the memories, the pain, its who they are. It's who we are.
We are Equestrians.

After hours of stall cleaning,
mane pulling,
tail braiding,
saddle soaping,
months of conditioning,
and years of continuous training...
sweat, tears, bruises, and broken ambitions
they still have the balls to tell us Equestrian is NOT a sport,
even say it's a girly prissy sport...
I just laugh and say "live a day in my boots"

Just think about both. We surely are E.Q.U.E.S.T.R.I.A.N.S