This year's 2006 PCHA Horsemanship Finals was a great event. Last year was my first year competing in the finals. I was second last year and was hoping this year to come out on top.

There were three rounds. I went into the first round trying to start off with a good score. The first round had some long bending lines, which made it a little easier. Tina Dilandri had a beautiful round and was on top heading into the second round. The second round was harder than the first and the course was fairly long. This round was also more challenging with more tight turns. Once again, Tina had a beautiful round and stayed on top. I remained second.

The third round was very technical. We had to demonstrate three changes of lead down one of the sides of the ring and then counter canter the last fence. After discussing the course with my trainer, we decided it was best to try three flying changes of lead. I got great scores in the third round thanks to my horse's (Hearts on Fire) ability to do flying lead changes. Since the third round counted fifty percent I was able to gain a couple of points and was close enough to the leader to have a work-off. In the work-off, the judges asked us to change horses. I was not nervous going into the work-off, but when they asked us to switch horses I didn't know what to expect. I had grown up riding many different horses in my neighborhood, but I thought that they might let us warm up and jump a couple of fences first. I was wrong. After we switched, the judges had me start right away. Luckily, the horse I got to ride (R.S.V.P.) was amazing. After the work-off they brought the top ten in and awarded the ribbons from tenth to first. I was so anxious to get my ribbon and I didn't know if I moved up or stayed in second. In the end I was called first. One of my top goals of the year was to win the PCHA Horsemanship finals and I was more than thrilled to achieve it. I look forward to watching the event next year and cheering on all the competitors.

I would like to thank all of the people at the PCHA and the Portuguese Bend Horse Show who made the event possible. Also, I couldn't have reached my goal without the help of Archie Cox, Peter Lombardo, Danielle Ackley, Teddy Mellencamp, Carlos Soriano, and Juan Solis.