Hi, my name is Kirsten Kimbler. I am a junior rider from the Midwest Region. I love to go on endurance rides with my family. We also enjoy going to Arabian horse shows. At last October's Sandilands 50, we decided to take our show horse, Jewels, out and test her on the trails. This turned out to be our most memorable ride of the year.

It started out like your usual endurance ride. We arrived at ride camp late, after getting our trailer stuck because we took a wrong turn. This was my fault because my dad let me be the navigator even though I am directionally challenged.

We went to bed late and woke up early. Then we headed out on the trail. My dad was riding his horse Dee, I was riding Winnie, and my sister Kelsey was riding Jewels. After a few miles we encountered a creek, but there was a tiny problem . . . I don't think Jewels had ever crossed water before. So believing that the water was some monster, Jewels thought it would be best to jump over the water, and her plan would have worked but she ended up in some bramble bushes on the other side. After some frantic maneuvering, Jewels and Kelsey were able to make it out of the brambles without any permanent damage.

Later in the ride we encountered more water. This time the trail disappeared into an ocean of water. Jewels planted both feet in the ground and refused to go in the muddy-brown-I-don't-know-how-deep monster water. After trying everything (tugging, pulling, coaxing, and bribing) we finally resorted to encouragement from behind.

Jewels must have decided that the monster behind her was much more threatening than the water monster ahead of her. As soon as she touched the water it was like a light bulb went off in her head. "Oh, this is water, huh? I'm kinda thirsty!" She then proceeded to dunk her nose below the surface and blow bubbles . . . she looked a lot like a submarine, then drank and drank. All we could do for the next five minutes was laugh. Did I mention that I was leading Jewels through the water? Well, I was, and that water was soooo cold. So while Jewels was having fun playing in the water my legs were going numb from the knees down.

Back on the trail, we came across a section with a lot of low-hanging branches. I turned around to warn my sister and thwap, the branch I was warning her about hit me and caused me to slide off Winnie. When I hit the ground, Winnie must have thought it was scary because she decided to take off running. However, my dad was able to block the trail with Dee; otherwise I would have had a long hike back to camp.

This trail was kind of hard to navigate. My dad was looking at the ground for hoofprints to make sure we were on the right path, when around the corner came a horse at full gallop. Dee, unsure of what was going on, decided to stop rather abruptly, causing my dad to somersault over her and eat some humble pie. I guess he shouldn't have given me such a hard time about coming off Winnie.

Dee, unlike Winnie, just stopped and stared at my dad lying on the ground and almost seemed to be saying, "What are you doing down there?" Dad, though a little dirty, wasn't hurt in any way, so we managed another good laugh. We got through the rest of the ride without any major mishaps, but that night before bed we found that my dad's expensive temper-pedic pillow was frozen. The perfect ending for a memorable day! I'm laughing just thinking about it now. If we happen to meet on the trails, be sure to introduce yourself, as we always look forward to meeting other horse enthusiasts.

Kirsten Kimbler, who turns 16 this month, has 400 endurance and 30 limited distance miles. Her family -- parents Carl and Kelly, and sisters Kelsey (12), McCamey (9), and Tessa (6) -- live in Aberdeen, South Dakota.