My name is Coletan MacLeod. I am 11 years old, and I started endurance when I was 8. I was really excited when my sister Ariel said she was going to teach me how to ride when I was 7. She told me that I was going to ride her horse Polar Ice.

We rode all fall and winter. Then my sister said she wanted me to ride Polar Ice's mother Tinsel. Tinsel has been competing for a lot of years so she would be better for me to ride.

So I started to ride Tinsel. I was really nervous when my mom asked me if I was ready to do my first ride on Tinsel in Grand Prairie. She said I was going to ride with her friend Wanda Lea, so I said yes. Wanda is just getting her new horse Blue started too.

I was nervous and excited to go. I was nervous because it was my first ride, and excited because my mom has been doing this sport for years and I finally got to try it.

After that year had gone by my mom brought a horse from a good friend of ours, Sheryl Lagan. That horse was to replace Polar Ice since he got sore. Her name was Whisper. I was really excited to do my first 50 miles on her at Fort Assiniboine. It was harder than doing a 25 but it was fun. When Whisper had to go home I wanted to have her, but she wasn't for sale.

Then this year I was all set to ride my mom's horse Thunder. He is really big, and my legs are messed up, so I had to use a bucket to get on him. Then I found out that when he wants to race he will take off. I couldn't hold on to him but that didn't stop me. My sister kept telling me that I would never be able to race him, but I was excited to ride him.

One day we found out that he was sore, and my mom said he must have splints again. So I didn't get to ride him. So my mom said that I should ride Ariel's horse Seabiscuit. I laughed because Seabiscuit has never done anything in his life and he is a big pest.

When I started to ride him a couple of months before ride season, he was doing really well. So I took him to do two 30-mile rides in Kamloops. On the way to Kamloops, we stopped to walk the horses and we found really big bites on his back. We took him to do the ride, and he wasn't sore. We went out and had a good ride. On the way home we found blood above Wanda's horse Blue's stall, so we thought it was him.

Before the next ride he looked good again, so I took him to do a 50-mile ride in Long Island Lake. On the way there, we stopped like normal, and we found more bites on his back. But Blue wasn't with us. Then we thought he might be doing it to himself, or Summer was doing it. Once we got there, we saw marks on Summer's rump like she was leaning backwards. And we found out it was her.

Then we took him to do two days of 50s in Montana. The first day was the best day for riding. There were clouds but no rain, and it was warm. It was really fun. I got to ride with Lisa Sharkey. I was a little nervous when they said it might snow and rain but it was all good.

There was a lady [Ann Pfeiffer] handing out different food to everyone at the ride and she handed out good luck ponies. She was one of my favorite people at the ride.

The second day my sponsor wasn't going to ride so I asked the manager, Jan Stevens, if she could help me find a sponsor. I got to ride with a guy named Paschal Karl. It was really fun. On the second loop his horse was sore so I had to wait an extra 45 minutes for the next person, who happened to be Paschal's wife Deb.

It did snow and rain but it was a really good ride, and I was first junior. After the second day was over I was so proud my horse Seabiscuit got me through it.

On the way home from Montana my mom took me and my family to the Battle of the Little Bighorn cemetery. At the cemetery they had some really cool things, like people from 400 years ago. My mom drove all day and we slept at a rodeo grounds so the horses had somewhere to stay. We got up really early and got home by 4:00 p.m. All our horses were glad to be home.

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