My name is Austin Shaffer and I am 10 years old and live in Pennsylvania. I started to ride when I was 2. My grandpa [Neal Shaffer] bought me a mini to ride. We fenced the yard in so I could ride Thunder in the yard. I rode in a little English saddle and I would fall off and Thunder would stand there and wait for me to get my bucket and get back on.

After I got too big for Thunder I started to ride my dad's old endurance horse, the famous Knightlight, but he was getting real old so my grandpa bought me a horse from the Arabian horse auction in Wisconsin -- that was Pearl Jam!

So I got Pearl Jam and started riding him at home so I could get good enough to go to an endurance ride. My grandma [Deb Shaffer] took me out riding a lot and told me when I could keep up with her she would sponsor me.

So I have been riding endurance now for three years on Pearl Jam who is now 11. I have 1,025 total miles.

Last year I competed in the AERC National Championship ride in Henryville, Indiana, and won the 50-mile junior championship and I also won first AHA junior. This year Jam and I have done real well, so far we have rode 10 rides and completed them all in the top ten overall for a total of 515 miles this year. Jam loves to go to the rides. We have competed all over. We have ridden in Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Jersey, Kentucky, West Virginia and Virginia.

My favorite is the Mike Ross ride in West Virginia -- I love playing in the river before and after the ride.

The worst ride for me this year was the DBDR I & II in Kentucky -- I was riding to get my 1000 miles and it rained and rained all day long. I was never so wet before. I was in pain on the last loop; I was rubbed from being wet but I needed to complete to get my 1000 miles.

I ended up getting fourth place. I don't think Jam liked riding in the rain either -- he was glad when we were done.

Jam is also a AHA sweepstakes horse so we run for sweepstakes points and we are doing real well.

My grandma sponsors me most of the time and sometimes I ride with my grandpa. On one ride my grandma got pulled and Pat Oliva sponsored me. She was the oldest rider and I was the youngest rider. She used to sponsor my dad! Pat says if I keep riding I can get more miles than her because she didn't start as young as me.

I would like to thank all the people that sponsored me when my grandma got pulled. Thanks to Pat Oliva, Karen Cummings, Linda Hamrick, Farzad Faryadi, Danelle Duffy and Erin Foster. And also a big thanks to all the ride managers who take the time out of their busy lives to put on the rides so we can ride! Jam and I plan on riding more and hopefully some day we'll be able to talk my grandma into riding a 100-mile ride.

The only thing I don't like about endurance riding is getting up so early in the morning and cleaning manure (Jam is a poo machine). At home I have to brush and ride Jam and clean his stall. My grandma feeds him for me because I would have to get up too early in the morning to feed him and I have to go to school. Grandpa says as long as I keep the A's and B's I have in school I can keep riding.

It is a lot of hard work but you have to work hard to get what you want. I would like to see more juniors out there riding because there sure aren't many of us out there.

Good luck to everyone this year and see ya on trail!

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