BY BRITTANY SIMS, JUNIOR JOURNALIST
Samantha Eckert and her horse Lopin En Style by Heza High Style and out of Sheza Lady Chocolate by Zips Chocolate Chip. Sam attends Murray State University with a major in marketing and minor in equine sciences.
Samantha Eckert, of Indianapolis, Indiana, is nervous to be competing at the 2008 Ford AQHYA World Championship Show, but this is not the first time she has been nervous about being here.
“I was a junior journalist in 2006. I was nervous about how much work that I was going to have to do,” Sam said. “I remember doing an interview on trail with Colin (Luba) and that really pushed me into teaching my horse how to do trail and it has really helped me.”This year, Sam will be competing in trail, hunt seat equitation and performance halter geldings.
”I am really excited to be here and do this with my horse because it has been my dream since I was young,” Sam said.
Sam has had many obstacles to overcome with her horse, Lopin En Style. Over the time she has owned “Johnny,” he has had several injuries and illnesses.
”About two months after we got him he got ecoli,” she said. “He had six weeks of intensive care at Purnell University and then he had two more months of intensive care down at a local vet clinic.”
No matter what she and Johnny went through, she never lost faith in him.
“I had a lot of my family praying for him. I tried not to give up faith because I knew if I did that then he wouldn’t have anything to live for and anything to push for, but that’s what’s so cool about him -- he’s never given up on me,” she said.
Sam is leaving for college after the Youth World and will take Johnny with her. However, she might sell him because she knows it’s time for her to move on.
“As much as I would like to keep showing him, I also know that it is time for him to get passed along to another youth kid.”
Though she is going off to college and thinking of selling Johnny she is not leaving the show ring.
“I plan to show for the rest of my life because honestly I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t.”
