Passing on the Horse Loving Dream

When it comes to the horse world everyone needs a village of support and the most important person in that village, for me, has always been my mom. The horse bug had simply gone from one crazy horse girl to the next when it came to us. Even from a young age my mom shared her passion of horses with me, from taking me to the barn with her, to me getting to tag along with her to the horse shows back when she was Eventing. From my first ever walk-trot test to my first time tackling a CIC two star (now known as a three star) she has always stood by and cheered for the great times and had my back during the hard times. These are some of the tales, in the spirit of mother’s day, of how my mom made me who I am today.

When I was little I was the kid that you could not get off a horse without having to deal with absolute crying fits. My poor mother (whom was probably exhausted at this point) would be standing in the middle of an old round pen with me on my sisters’ hot little Welsh pony, running laps around her. Usually by this time I had caused a scene due to the fact I was crying and basically running this little pony as fast as we could go. The people at the barn we were boarding at thought my mom was “forcing me to ride”. In an annoyed tone I’m sure, she always replied, “I’m trying to get her off. I want to go home.”

Sandy Bielawski on Captain Trotski Big Bear around 1999, PHOTO: Shannon Brinkman

Fast forward a year or two my mom took me with her to the shows when she competed her heart horse Captain Trotski. For any moms that are trying to compete that are amateur riders and have their young child with them, it can be a struggle. To make me part of it in our own special way I was always instructed to get my helmet and to wait by the dressage arena for her to get finished with her dressage test then afterwards I always got to ride Captain back to the barn. This ritual got carried out after all the phases and every time I got walked Captain back to the barn with my mom I would help untack him. Watching my mom compete and put her best foot forward only inspired me to do the same.

When I turned five I got my first pony, an old little hunter pony named Woodlands Isabella that I rode all over the place with my mom on Captain. It wasn’t until I was six that my mom told me, “if you want to compete you have to ride in a saddle”. With that she got me my very first saddle and from there I set my sights to showing just like my mom.

When I was eight my mom did the biggest sacrifice a horse owner and mom could make, she let me compete her heart horse Captain at my very first ever event. We were at a Big Bear schooling show and on my first ever cross country course I fell off at fence two. My mom ran on foot to the fence (there was no jump judge at the fence) she got me back on and sent me on my way and I continued on to make it to the finish but was technically eliminated due to not fully understanding the between flag concept. Either way I was hooked and got to ride and compete Captain for six more years after that.

My mom let her dream become my dream and made more sacrifices for me than I could ever imagine. Trusting me with the horse she loved the most, cheering me on from the side lines, walking cross country courses with me, and always telling me to go for it even when she is just as nervous as I am. For my mom and all the moms out there that made sacrifices to help our wild dreams come true, happy Mother’s Day.