The stomping of hooves the thunder of the saddle riding is much harder then it seems. Each ride is different each ride brings out the better of me. No horse is the same and no rider is the same so it is a different experience for each and every person. Hard work means many things to many people but to me it is all about the prize at the end. A good meal cannot be beat if it is made properly. A juicy moist steak with a warm mango salsa and asparagus made the perfect meal after this crazy ride, but riding is not the only thing that hungers me any hard activity makes me think of food even if it is just clowning around.

Burning calories demands hard work and hard work drives a hunger deep inside. Ever since I was young I had a very high metabolism rate making it very hard to stay full for a long time. Even worse I was a very hyper kid growing up. My parents could never get me to come inside I was always running around never stopping. I also played a lot of sports when I was younger I ran cross country and wrestled since sixth grade. Wrestling really got to me my junior year when I became captain and really had to take responsibility. I was weighing in at 125 pounds at the beginning of the year and within three weeks I had dropped down to 105 pounds. This took a serious tole on my body making me very weak. At the time I did not care because I was doing great taking first in four of our six large tournaments and second and third in our other ones, but by the time the state tournament came around I was getting very weak. I was ready I was ranked fourth in the tournament overall. I couldn't wait for it to come. The first day went well winning my first and only match. That night went badly though I felt very sick and could barely move. I was up all night my parents force feeding me water but I was unable to keep it down. the next day came fast and I knew I was in trouble when my parents had to help me walk to my car, finally we made it to the tournament and I stepped on the scale shocked to see the I was point two pounds overweight. I walked out of the room ashamed of myself. I made it only a few feet before I collapsed in the middle of the hall. Twenty minutes later I was found by an off duty EMT luckily he found my parents and told them exactly what to do. I had lost so much weight that I became very sick and spent the next week slowly trying to eat gaining a little weight every day. Finally after a week I was back up to 130 and was feeling great until my senior year.

The year was going great for me I had taken sixth at our state tournament and was ready to finish the year strong all I had left to do was get my wisdom teeth out. It was spring break when I got them removed and it sucked for a few days but then the pain went away. It was only three days until I started getting very sick. It started with a sore throat not being able to eat any delectable food at all. From there I started to lose a lot of weight quickly making myself very week. After that it went downhill for me fast it started one day as I was lying in bed as sick as a dog when all of a sudden I could feel myself slowly stop breathing. I started to panic I grabbed everything I cold and started throwing it trying to make myself as loud as possible finally going into shock. Luckily my dad found me soon after that and called an ambulance. I woke up in a hospital bed scared for my life. Soon a doctor walked in and told me all that had happened and diagnosed me with lemierre's syndrome. The doctor sat down with me and had a very serious talk about what would happen if it was too late (with a 90% mortality rate if untreated), and how I had a very good chance of major surgery. I knew that this could end badly for me so this first thing I asked for was a steak and potatoes, 30 minutes later I was in heaven eating the best steak of my life. I had never appreciated anything more than a simple meal. Even though I could not move my right arm I was in severe pain everything disappeared with that first bite. When I got out of the hospital eight days later I was very excited even though I had faced death I realized that I needed to enjoy life so much more. I got home with a buffet of food waiting for me. Two months later I was done with all of my medications and I had put all my weight back on. That’s when I really started to live I was out everyday doing something. I went to Mexico for a week I rode horses all the time I started rock climbing and hiking all of the time, and after every activity I did I always prepared my own food to the best standards I could make, but nothing could bring me back to that little bit of hope that I held on to through that single steak.