Charlotte Weisberg is an 18-year-old from New Hampshire and an avid EN fan who just made the transition to college– with her horse. She wrote this article to spread the message to other readers in a similar position, in hopes that her experience will encourage others to consider bringing their horses along after high school. Thanks to Charlotte for writing, and thank you for reading.
William grazing at our new home in Pennsylvania
From Charlotte:
I know this feels premature, since I’ve only been in school for a month now, but I know that the college process for most kids is starting earlier and earlier each year, and I want to get my message out while it can still make a difference. I caught the “horse bug,” as we all know it, when I was eight years old and by the age of thirteen had convinced my parents I was ready for a horse of my own. That’s when Sweet William came into my life and changed it in ways I never imagined.
He was a big and bulky overweight Percheron/Quarter horse cross with a previous career at the Preliminary level under his belt, and nine months out of work. I was about as inexperienced in eventing as you could get, although you couldn’t have paid me to admit that at the time, and my parents were just along for the ride. We were clearly a match made in heaven. William showed me the ropes of eventing while also showing me the ground on more occasions than I could count, and I gave him a forever home. I could go on for days listing our wonderful times together and all that he has taught me, but everyone reading this most likely also has that one horse they believe is more special than anything else in the world and knows exactly what I’m talking about. Plus, that’s not the point of my story.
After four years together and a countless number of memories made with William, I was beginning my senior year of high school and of course, the dreaded “college process.” While most of my peers were stressing about how many student leadership committees they could sign up for, whether they could report that one thirty-second of Hispanic heritage on their Common App, or how to properly phrase every last sentence in their college essay, I had other things on my mind. Sure, academics have always come first for me, but if I had to write out my list of priorities in life it would look something like this:
Of course choosing a school was important to me, but somehow I never felt nearly as stressed out about that as it seemed my peers were. I fell in love with my school the moment I stepped on campus; I applied binding early decision, was luckily accepted, and never looked back. All of this only seemed like such a breeze to me, because there were much more pressing matters on my mind throughout the whole process. If I go off to school, what happens to my pony? My partner in crime? My other half? How do I just not ride every day? Or even not see him every day? Is my eventing career over? While my friends envied my laid back attitude about the college selection procedure, I, for once in my life, envied their horse-free lives. I tried reaching out to my fellow eventers and riders that had been in my situation for guidance but found little advice. The clock was ticking though and senior year was flying by.
I finally had the conversation I needed in order to make my decision though, and that was with my high school equestrian team coach. Although she had at the time only known William and I for less than a year, her response was simple yet firm. When I brought up my fears and doubts about me and my horse’s future, she simply turned to me and said: “What do you mean? There’s no question about it. You have to bring William to school with you.” While her response shocked me, it also forced me to realize what I knew was true all along. There was no way I could stop riding or even dream of giving up Will. From then on, I was determined to make this happen.
I fought all summer with the University Parking Services Department against their strict “No Cars on Campus for Freshmen” rule. My appeal letter to them looked something like this. No car = can’t see my horse = depression = flunking classes. After that they were convinced that horse people are indeed crazy, but that they should probably let me bring my car. I then faced the financial hurdle of all of this. Was it going to be even feasible to make this happen? Well lucky for me, my parents couldn’t be more supportive of me and William, and they promised to make it happen for me.
William and I at one of our last events of the season. Photo by a dear friend.
Soon enough, I had picked out the perfect farm (never before this did I realize how difficult barn shopping is), permitted a car on campus, and mentally prepared myself for the move from New Hampshire to Pennsylvania. So in typical chaotic eventer fashion, I signed William and I up for one last sanctioned event at Huntington Farm in Vermont. We completed it with a pink ribbon and a victory gallop, packed our lives into our little two horse bumper-pull, and loaded up for Pennsylvania the next day. With the help of some tubes of Ulcerguard and Probios we made the 7-hour journey effortlessly and William took it all like a champ. Before I knew it, my horse was moved in to a beautiful new farm, I was moved in to my dorm room at Lehigh University, my parents and siblings were saying their goodbyes, and I had accumulated 22 likes on my Facebook photo album titled “William goes to college.”
William at a rest stop in Connecticut on our drive to PA
So here’s my message to pass along to all of you high school eventers, riding enthusiasts, and the amazingly supportive parents out there. It’s not easy, but we’re eventers, so when is it easy? But I can look at just my one month here at school and say that it was all completely worth it. Did I have my initial freaked out phone calls to my father, because I thought William was slowly wilting away from only being ridden three times a week? Yes, believe me that happened on multiple occasions. Even if it is only two or maybe three times a week that I get to see my boy and spend time around horses, it’s always the highlight of my week. More importantly, it’s given me the chance to enjoy my time with my horse more and never take him for granted. I can safely say now, that bringing William with me was and will continue to be one of the best decisions I ever made. Sure, it’s stressful at times, but I look around at all my peers and I can’t imagine how they make it through those rigorous exam weeks without some riding time. I know that I am probably one of the few and extremely fortunate ones out there, but I hope that my story can make a difference to at least one person sitting in the same position I was at this time last year. I’ve always found it to be a bit corny, but that old saying “If there’s a will, there’s a way” really rang true for me on this occasion. So I encourage anyone out there facing these big decisions to make it happen. Bring your horse to college no matter how crazy it seems. Do whatever it takes, and tackle this just like you would any cross country course. Keep kicking on and put everything you’ve got into it, until you’ve got the outcome you want. And more importantly, the outcome that you know you truly need. Go Eventing.
