The wind blows through her hair and the smell of hay surrounds her.  The barn drifts away in the background as she rides away.  This is how sophomore Makenna Burton sees the world while she is riding her horse.

When Burton was in 5th Grade, she started riding horses and fell in love with it.

“My friends started riding [horses] and I wanted to be included,” she said. 

Eventually, though, Burton’s friends quit, but she stuck with it.

Burton got a horse named Jocko in 6th Grade. But, Jocko hurt his back left leg and it ended up getting infected, so he had to be put down to be relieved from his pain.

Right now, Burton has two horses, Zeppo and Star Man.  Zeppo is a former race horse, and is the one that Burton rides.

“Star Man is a companion horse so that Zeppo doesn’t get lonely,” Burton said.

Burton lives on acreage, so she is fortunate to have a barn for Zeppo and Star Man at her house.

“I just gallop around in my front yard whenever I feel like it,” Burton said.

She is currently working on training Zeppo better so she can start entering riding competitions.

Even though Burton is thinking about entering competitions in the future, she tells people who ride horses they should do it for the passion of the sport, not for any prize or money.

Burton enjoys riding horses mainly because she believes it is an escape from everything in life.  When she is on a horse, she said, nothing else seems to exist.

As of now, riding horses is only a hobby, and she does not see herself in an occupation relating to horses in the future.

“I’d like to go into a different field, but I’m always going to have horses.  I can’t see myself without horses,” Burton said.