In my free time, and often my not-so-free time, I teach horseback riding lessons at a horse rescue barn. My focus is leading the therapeutic riding program, but I also teach a few beginner and intermediate lessons - including a group class made up of four young women, ranging in age from 11-15.
For those of you who haven’t experienced the unique privilege that is being a girl that age, it is a particularly hellish purgatory. Everyone is wrong, including yourself, and no one understands you - including yourself. Each day, each hour it can feel, you’re changing; body and mind morphing constantly as hormones bubble volatilely.