Let me start out by saying, It is not my intent to "bash" anyone for comments made about Erica. I also want to thank Pam, Mominis,Lisa,mindylee,Leia, and anyone ealse who knows Erica and the hard work and love she puts in each of her horses. Thank you for your kind words, it means alot.
Those of you who do not know my daughter, let me share with you a little somthing about her.
First of all , Erica graduated at the top of her class, graduated with honors, not only academics, but recieved many awards in sports, was named whos who amoung high school students, was homecoming queen, Miss C.H.S. , voted prettiest smile, most cooperative, and the list goes on.......... Why am I telling you this???? Because I want you to know that whatever Erica tries to do, she tries to do well. And that includes her horses.
We started out getting Erica a horse when she was around 8. I believe it was a fox trotter. Although he was a very gentle boy, She was thrown from it when he got stung by some bees and landed in the hospital with a severly broken arm. Her dad and I knew she would be mad at us, but we decided then until she was older, no more horses.
We took Erica to the state fair in Little Rock, and it was there that we first laid our eyes on a miniature horse. We didnt even know there were miniature horses. We thought that might just fit her need to have a horse. It was at that moment miniatures became a part of Ericas life forever.
We got to know a few people who owned minis and were invited to show at some fun shows. It was addictive!!!
Next thing we knew we were invited to area shows and soon learned we needed to learn more, starting with the quality of our horses.
You see, when Erica first started showing she wasnt winning blue ribbons. In fact , we were happy to get a ribbon.
Remember, Erica was very young when she started showing. We were be-friended by Belinda Bagby at some shows, and I would like to think Belinda saw somthing in Erica. Soon she asked her if she would like to show with her in the youth divison.
Erica was always watching, asking questions, learning. Thats how you get better. I'm sure there were times when people ,including trainers would think..... leave me alone, quit asking questions.
What I am trying to say is,..... this is one BIG learning experience. There is always somthing to learn. If you want to be good , it takes hard work. Find what you need to do , ask questions you need to ask, and find people that are doing what YOU want to do and work on doing it. We didnt start out with the best horses for sure, but Erica looked at what was winning and tried to breed that into her program. Its worked for her, but she is now 26, so thats alot of years . Years of hard work.
Erica graduated college, and now works at a college. Its a full time job. She comes home and heads up to the barn, where she is most of the time. She works them, baths them, clips them, doctors them, cleans stalls, and has figured out a feeding program for each of them, she works very hard at somthing she loves.
You can buy the best horse there is, but if you dont put the effort into making it the best it can be ( and love doing it) you will have nothing.
In closing , I again want to thank everyone for the kind words. And for those that havent had such kind words, I have to believe you just dont know my daughter..... Yes she did excell at nationals this year, and yes , I am so proud of her and all her hard work. I am proud of the time she took on the weekends to help her cousins with teaching them to show. We now have to youngsters who are excited to show minis, and they did an awsome job at nationals. Way to go, Clementine and Liston!! There are lots of roll models out there in the world, lets support them instead of trying to bring them down.
We have met wonderful friends in the miniature world, and without them Erica wouldnt be where she is today.
Linda Killion
Those of you who do not know my daughter, let me share with you a little somthing about her.
First of all , Erica graduated at the top of her class, graduated with honors, not only academics, but recieved many awards in sports, was named whos who amoung high school students, was homecoming queen, Miss C.H.S. , voted prettiest smile, most cooperative, and the list goes on.......... Why am I telling you this???? Because I want you to know that whatever Erica tries to do, she tries to do well. And that includes her horses.
We started out getting Erica a horse when she was around 8. I believe it was a fox trotter. Although he was a very gentle boy, She was thrown from it when he got stung by some bees and landed in the hospital with a severly broken arm. Her dad and I knew she would be mad at us, but we decided then until she was older, no more horses.
We took Erica to the state fair in Little Rock, and it was there that we first laid our eyes on a miniature horse. We didnt even know there were miniature horses. We thought that might just fit her need to have a horse. It was at that moment miniatures became a part of Ericas life forever.
We got to know a few people who owned minis and were invited to show at some fun shows. It was addictive!!!
Next thing we knew we were invited to area shows and soon learned we needed to learn more, starting with the quality of our horses.
You see, when Erica first started showing she wasnt winning blue ribbons. In fact , we were happy to get a ribbon.
Remember, Erica was very young when she started showing. We were be-friended by Belinda Bagby at some shows, and I would like to think Belinda saw somthing in Erica. Soon she asked her if she would like to show with her in the youth divison.
Erica was always watching, asking questions, learning. Thats how you get better. I'm sure there were times when people ,including trainers would think..... leave me alone, quit asking questions.
What I am trying to say is,..... this is one BIG learning experience. There is always somthing to learn. If you want to be good , it takes hard work. Find what you need to do , ask questions you need to ask, and find people that are doing what YOU want to do and work on doing it. We didnt start out with the best horses for sure, but Erica looked at what was winning and tried to breed that into her program. Its worked for her, but she is now 26, so thats alot of years . Years of hard work.
Erica graduated college, and now works at a college. Its a full time job. She comes home and heads up to the barn, where she is most of the time. She works them, baths them, clips them, doctors them, cleans stalls, and has figured out a feeding program for each of them, she works very hard at somthing she loves.
You can buy the best horse there is, but if you dont put the effort into making it the best it can be ( and love doing it) you will have nothing.
In closing , I again want to thank everyone for the kind words. And for those that havent had such kind words, I have to believe you just dont know my daughter..... Yes she did excell at nationals this year, and yes , I am so proud of her and all her hard work. I am proud of the time she took on the weekends to help her cousins with teaching them to show. We now have to youngsters who are excited to show minis, and they did an awsome job at nationals. Way to go, Clementine and Liston!! There are lots of roll models out there in the world, lets support them instead of trying to bring them down.
We have met wonderful friends in the miniature world, and without them Erica wouldnt be where she is today.
Linda Killion