She drives to the barn, gets her horse out, brushes him, tacks him up and then practices for hours. And then she comes back the next day, and the next day, and the day after that.  She’s at the barn every day after school until 7:30.

Natalie Fabbri, sophomore, started horseback riding six years ago and hasn’t stopped.

“I’d always go on horseback rides when we were on vacation and I really liked it,” Fabbri said. “And then I went to horse camp and I was like ‘Oh, I like this’ and I kept doing it.”

Her favorite part about horseback riding is her horse, Chai. She bought him this February from a lady in Lake St. Louis and absolutely loves him.

Besides practicing, Fabbri competes as well. She said the show season is over the summer and fall and its takes all weekend.

“Saturdays is ‘hunters’ which is judged on the horses and then Sundays are ‘jumpers’ which is really tight turns and its time constrained,” Fabbri said.

Jumpers are her favorite but they take a lot. You have to get the horse to the right distance, keep him smooth and controlled, and stay with him throughout the jump, she said. But even then, people tell her horseback riding isn’t hard.

“I would like to put them on my horse and watch them fall off because I know they couldn’t ride him,” she said.

During competitions, Fabbri has to constantly guide her horse, make sure that he is straight and supple, and make sure both her posture and her horse’s posture looks good.

“Anybody can sit on a horse and walk around, but I have to tell the horse what to do,” Fabbri said. “It’s really complicated but most people don’t understand that.”