I (Kayla) am basically a “one-woman” show. I do most of what I do with the horses, alone. From stall cleaning to feeding to working to turnout to show prep, I am often times by myself. It is truly both rewarding and frustrating at the same time. Rewarding because hard work does indeed pay off but frustrating too because well, doing everything alone means that sometimes you can’t do everything you want to do.

In all reality, I am not sure I will ever make it to the world championship show with either of my horses, but it’s a thought still that maybe, just maybe, if all the stars align just right it could be a possibility. I have had dreams of qualifying Fizz for several years and having one final show there and retiring him. However, the grim reality is that we simply cannot trailer to every show across every state we would have to go to in order to get enough points to be in the top 20 hunters in the world, just to go to the show. Sadly, that dream is likely never to become a reality.

However, for Duke, his qualifying would be less stringent so the odds of us being able to go one day are much higher. We are not the only AOT team to have sights set on WCHS. We would not be the first AOT team to ever grace the green shavings, so I have questions. What does it take to get there? What does it take to be successful? How do you do it? Do you have help? What is the “process” of getting there and how did (does) it feel?

These are all things I’d like to ask AOT’s who have been there, done that, are doing it, or plan to do it in the future. I have a few of these fine folks who are available, here’s hoping the KY State Fair media gives me the credentials I will need to get in to see them. I’ll report back later, if we are able to get this done while everyone from all across the country is in town!