In his free time, Hector Manzo likes to go horseback riding outside of school and he’s developing some skills with the animals. “One of the things we have to do is saddle up the horses, of course. We also have to check if the horses are healthy and we have to check and clean their hooves,” he said. “It usually takes around an hour and a half just to be able to ride them.”

It is not just pleasure rides that Manzo is involved with. He has a connection with the horses and taking care of them. “In between the weeks we have to clean them, feed them, and we also have to load up hay bales. They’re usually around 100 pounds and we have to load them up 30 to 40 at a time,” he said.

Basically, there are two different types of horseback riding that Manzo participates in. “It all depends on what you do really,” he said. “Some people like doing it competitively, and some others like me just like to ride the horses on trails and things like that…There is something called charros in Mexico, and they have lots of competitive things there, like lassoing, jumping from one horse to another, and just many different things within the category.”

Manzo didn’t always ride horses, but he has been athletic for a long time. “I was originally playing soccer as a little kid, but I didn’t like it as much. My father loved horses so we started sticking to that,” he said. “We started off with one horse, and overtime we owned four horses in total. I have a newer horse that I got two years ago, which is a Tennessee Walking Horse.”

For Manzo, horseback riding is nothing more than a hobby, and has his own goals that he would like to accomplish. “I actually want to become a veterinarian, and I want to work on any large animals in general. Horseback riding is just a hobby for me that I enjoy in my free time,” he said.

He enjoys it and thinks other people would as well. “I think people should try it if they have a stable income,” he said. “Horseback riding takes a lot of time and money, and it also takes knowledge on how to handle them. But I do think everyone should just try it once at a nearby place and experience the joy in it.”