Picking the right horse is a lot like choosing a car.
Picking the right horse is a lot like choosing a car. A novice shouldn’t get a powerful sports car. And there really is no reason for a race-car driver to be zipping around the track in a cheap used automobile. This is how Charlotte Selby describes the selection process. If you think it sounds simple enough, you haven’t heard the entire process.
“We kind of tell them what we’re looking for and what our goals are,” said Selby, an Eastlake senior and future Baylor student-athlete. “With that (my trainers) will start talking to people, talk to other trainers and look for other trainers. Then, we’ll go down … I’ll test ride it, my trainers will ride it and see if you work well with it.”
After all that, a veterinarian examines the horse. If everything checks out, then the purchase is made. It seems like a lot of hoops to jump through, but it’s absolutely mandatory for the human-horse relationship to be perfect.
Selby has had her current horse, Sally, for two years. Sally is an American Quarter Horse. There are different horses, which all have different event specialties. Selby shows in the all-around.
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She’ll take her talents to Baylor, which a few years ago, she had no idea was even a possibility.
“It was the middle of my sophomore year and I went down to look at a horse and then met the coach of Baylor actually, when I was down there. I hadn’t really thought of it before, but on the way back with my trainer, she was telling me about it.
“That’s when it kind of came across my mind, ‘Oh, maybe this is something I can do.’ ”
While most people think of football or basketball when they imagine a Baylor student-athlete, Selby will be riding horses for the Bears. An uncommon path to college, but one she doesn’t regret.