Teamwork and Determination Pays Off

Hey Readers,


I am so pleased to say that today I met the Intercollegiate Horse Show Association (IHSA) President, Bob Cachionne. Bob is not just the President of IHSA, he is also the founding father of it! I cannot tell you how much that means to all of us, especially the Western Team. The Western Team has been kind of the "red head stepchild" to the Equestrian Teams here at Virginia Tech because, we are Western and not English. Unlike the Hunter and Dressage Teams, the Western Team is not on campus. Virginia Tech does not supply the Western Team with a barn or horses, we do it all ourselves. The Western Team has to find their own horses, their own tack, their own local barn to keep the horses at, and their own money to pay for this. Now Virginia Tech does help a little bit with this I believe but do not take my word for it because this end of the finances are not discussed. The Western Team Members take care of their horses all by themselves they come out every morning and every evening to feed, to clean the stalls, to make sure all the horses have water and are well. Now of course our membership fee does help us pay for the horses and their board and all of the fundraising we do. I am in no way saying that the Hunter and Dressage Team do not do this, I'm sure they do! But it is a little different when we are not on campus and we are solely ran but just students, our coaches are all students here at Virginia Tech. So for Bob Cachionne to come out to our barn and see where we are and what we have done is a huge deal!! Bob came out to the barn this morning with Shelby at 9:30 a.m and he was telling us about how our story is a lot like his. He too started from the very bottom and worked his way up the ladder. He was just so inspiring!! He also informed us that we, the Western Team, are the only Western Team at a College in Virginia! After talking with us Bob asked us if we had a team banner. Shelby and I replied with a no. He told us that he is going to pay for us to get a banner made!!! Bob said that he could see how close this team is and how hard-working we are and that he wanted to reward us! He also told us that he wanted us to design it and everything!!! This brought tears to Shelby and I! We no longer felt like the "red headed stepchild", we felt like we were finally being recognized! So I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you put forth effort, determination, and hard work it will not ever go unnoticed! It may take awhile to be seen but do not ever give up because eventually someone will notice it and will reward you like you have never been rewarded before!