I’ve known my trainer since I was ten years old and she was the age I am now. I was very much the stereotypical barn rat at that age, and she welcomed and encouraged that. She had a young warmblood cross at the time that she was bringing up the levels in eventing, and she had no problem with me hanging on to the arena fence to watch while she schooled him after my lessons (and would usually talk me through what she was doing). She would also pay me to clean her tack and pull her horse’s mane, which was great for the $5 it earned me when I was twelve, but is now a cool thing to look back on because that was the horse that carried her to her first 5* completion.
She was the reason why I got to half-lease a horse that I absolutely fell in love with, but she also never mentioned anything to me before she had talked to my parents about it (leasing, the week-long summer camp she ran, the one mini trial that I got to compete in as a birthday present). She never made me feel less than for the fact that we couldn’t afford shows and she carved out time in her schedule to give me an extra lesson or two when my parents had a little bit of extra money and asked if she could.
I had a bad riding accident when I was thirteen (not her fault) and she went out of her way to check up on me afterward and make sure that I knew she was always there if I needed anything, even though I ended up leaving that barn as a result. I wasn’t able to ride for a long time afterward for financial reasons, and by the time my family had the money for it again, riding with her was an impossibility as she had started her own program and didn’t have any lesson horses, so I found another place to ride and for a long time we would just cross paths when I’d go to help out my then-barnmates at shows.
I bought my own horse four years ago and we were finally able to have her out for lessons about six months later, which continued sporadically through last year. She finally had an open stall January of this year, so I moved to her barn (with my former barn owner’s blessing), and it’s been absolutely wonderful. I’ve had a lot of confidence issues that I’ve been working through courtesy of my former trainer and she’s done wonders for me (it really helps having trust in your trainer ingrained in you as a literal child), and I’ve gone to groom for her at a couple of shows and had a great time (stark contrast to when I groomed for my former trainer). She’s also offered to trade me saddling training horses for her on the weekends for free lessons, which I hardly need at this point since I’m a grown adult with a job but am absolutely not going to turn down.
Sometimes I forget how long I’ve known her, but I’m reminded when people ask how I’m so comfortable with doing things for her, and my response is just “She trained me right from the beginning,” lol. I’d be lying if I said it doesn’t vaguely terrify me being trusted with her horses, but it’s also a giant compliment and I feel incredibly lucky to be in the situation that I’m in. It also hits me like a ton of bricks every time she leaves the barn before me and says “See you later, kid” by way of farewell even though I’ll be twenty-seven this year 
I also have to give a shoutout to my former barn owner. She gave me a safe place to land after I had quit horses for a while due to how toxic my prior training situation was, and let me come out and ride her favorite horse in exchange for absolutely nothing other than company during her own rides. It was how I learned to have fun and enjoy the sport again, and entirely the reason why I ended up buying a horse when I did. She rearranged the entire barn to make that possible for me, went and picked him up for me, and gave us a great place to call home for nearly four years, and I’ll owe her for that forever. She was so excited for me when I was able to move to my trainer’s because she wants me to be able to chase and be successful with my goals, even though it was incredibly sad for both of us and we both cried the day I left, and I’m incredibly grateful that we’re still part of each other’s support system even though we don’t see each other multiple times a week anymore.
(Clearly I could write a novel about both of them and how much they mean to me. I wouldn’t still be in the horse world if it wasn’t for them.)
) - the one I call my Faux Grandson - is a true friend.
