When I was six it seemed like the world was over, as though life had no meaning and I would have a never ending heart ache. My parents had just split up, my big sister moved out and my cat ran away, it seemed as though life would be easier without me.
Thankfully the hole in my heart had disappeared and I was suddenly happy again. The strange thing is I was happy when my dad found a new girlfriend, Lisa. Lisa was young and adventurous and was easy to talk to, but my favorite thing about her was that she was a cowgirl. She had horses that she used for calf roping, barrel racing and trail riding.As I helped her at her barn she told me and her horse Pepsi had an instant connection. She asked me if I ever rode a horse before. I told her I have at a carnival, when they lead me around but never really rode a horse. She told me that she could give me lessons if I helped with the barn. As the next day arrived, I sprung out of bed and got on my boots and ran all the way to her house. She only lived down the road but it was a massive accomplishment for a six year old. When I got there Lisa was no where in sight but I found my friend Pepsi. I scampered into the barn towards his stall and felt his silky chestnut fur. As he wined for my to feed him a treat I was busy looking for a wheelbarrow and a pitchfork. I banged against the stall trying to tell Pepsi to go run outside the stall, as he moved I swung the door open and watched him dash around the paddock. As Lisa came into the barn she scared me by throwing a handful of left over oats at me.
“Tayler you better clean the stable if you ever want to ride!” Lisa exclaimed.
Frightened I hustled to the door and cleaned all the little droppings and left over food off the floor and threw some hay and fresh oats for Pepsi to enjoy. Lisa told me I had to clean all of the stalls to show I was not scared of horses. Although I’m pretty sure half of the reason she made me clean all the stalls was so that she did not have to do it. Oh well the faster I worked the sooner I got to ride. As I finished the last stall Pepsi seemed to be getting impatient, so I hustled out of the barn and asked Lisa if I could ride.
Lisa pointed to a small shed at the far end of an arena. “Go and get all of your tack and bring it back, then we will ride.”
I was so worn out from all the cleaning that I could barely lift another finger, I managed to pick up the dusty leather saddle and walk 100 yards to the stall where my best friend awaited. I saddled up my horse and lead him to the arena. As soon as I was there I spied many obstacles like poles barrels and jumping poles laying on the ground. It was an obstacle coarse! I zig- zaged through the coarse and then when I was not paying attention Lisa tapped Pepsi with a English whip and he started to trot. When I had completed the coarse at a trot Lisa told me to go a little bit faster as my horse took off at a canter I felt as if I could fly. Sadly, my lesson ended and I had to escort Pepsi back to his paddock so he could be with his four legged buddies.
A few weeks passed and Lisa asked if I would like to watch her teach a more advanced group. Of course I said yes as fast as you could blink. As I arrived I saw horses as far as the eye can see, it was a rainbow of black, chestnut, buckskin and white horses. It was the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Lisa called my name and told me to go inside where I could watch. As I saw about 14 girls and 14 horse’s come into a arena I was astonished by how rambunctious the horses were. My horse was the last one to enter the arena and then all the horses and riders lined up and Lisa took off around the barrels and spirited back, she was as fast as lightning. After about four horse went by the beautiful white horse took off, the horse seemed lost as if he did not know what he was doing. The horse bolted back and the girl tried to stop the crazed beast but it was to late. The horse had charged my horse and ran right into him. My horse just stood there as if he was fine but his leg said otherwise, he was keeping all of his weight off one leg so you could tell that he could no longer participate in the rodeo but could be used more as a trail or lesson horse.

Lisa did not make a big deal out of the incident because she had three other horses. Lisa seemed to be acting very strange when I arrived at the barn on Saturday. As lunch arrived Lisa had let every single horse out to the pasture, and told me to go out there and find Pepsi. As I scurried out into the endless ocean of horses, I saw my beautiful chestnut horse standing patiently at the far end of the meadow. I haltered him up and strutted back to the arena where Lisa awaited. When I got back Lisa looked extremely proud of me.
“Tayler you passed the test!” Lisa said with satisfaction.
“What test?” I replied
“Over the past 7 weeks I have been watching you ride and you have a very good bound with Pepsi.”
“Okay...”
“What I am trying to say is, You are now in charge of exercising, feeding, grooming, and all other responsibilities of the horse!”
I was speechless, saying thank you wouldn’t be enough I could barley breathe. The only thing that was keeping me from falling over was Pepsi’s sturdy body. I suddenly felt a wet drop falling from my face, it was tears of joy. I finally had a horse and he was my best friend.
After talking care of my horse for 6 months Lisa said she was moving to Texas and taking Pepsi with her. The hole in my heart came back. I had lost my horse, my best friend, and my life.
Three weeks later I gave my four legged friend one last kiss good-bye. As Lisa saw tears flowing out of my eyes like waterfalls you could tell she would say something tough. She did, “Tayler, cowgirls don’t cry.”
As she gave me a hug good bye I saw my horse’s face and got weak in the knees and almost fell to the floor. As I watched the trailer pull away my heart sunk and my head was spinning, I hoped this was a dream, sadly wasn’t.
A couple months went by and I started to be happy again. This all ended when my dad told me that my horse had died. I was devastated my best friend had just died. I had lost so many, and now my best friend. How was I ever going to make it through life. Well time passed and I told myself to stop being such a depressed little girl. Pepsi would want me to move on and not live in the past, so that is what I did. Ever since then I have remembered to live in the moment because you never know when it can be your last. I still miss Pepsi dearly but whenever I think of him I think of all the fun we had and not the regrets. Never forget how you love but never be depressed when they leave and remember all the memories.