Growing up, it was always fairly easy to identify the horse lovers.

Wearing horse shirts and cowboy boots to school, these students almost seemed like an animal fan club.

What most people don’t know is that these horse lovers aren’t just a fan of horses. Additionally, their sport completely relies on them.

Westernaires is America’s finest horse drill team, and is a well-known group at Ralston Valley High School. Ask around, and nearly every Mustang knows someone on this prestigious drill team.

One of these team members is senior Melanie Kurtz.

“I’m on the red team, which is the varsity team at Westernaires,” said Kurtz, who equated the red team to a varsity program. “We ride mounted drill at speed, so we have flags and we have lights”.

Kurtz has been a part of Westernaires for nine years, making this a large portion of her life.

Personally, Kurtz has three horses that go by the names of Jellybean, Junebug, and Vick. Junebug is an American Paint, and because Jellybean is Junebug’s child, she is an Appaloosa Paint mix. Vick is a Morgan.

Most people know that Westernaires involves caring for many horses and keeping them healthy, but many others do not understand how the competitions work.

Kurtz competes in Romans, Liberty, and Dressage.

To elaborate, Romans is where a rider stands on two horses while riding, an obviously skilled maneuver.

Liberty is the classic horse jumping, which tests the ability of the horse and the rider.

Lastly, Kurtz describes Dressage as, “classic, English riding”, where horse and rider are expected to perform, from memory, a series of predetermined movements.

Not only do they show a variety of versatile skills, but they also travel around the country to show off those skills.

“Over the summer we went to Iowa and New Mexico,” Kurtz said, “and we compete all over the state of Colorado”.

Yet, with all of the time, care, and travel the sport has given, how is it even possible to leave it all for college?

“I’ll graduate in stock show next year,” Kurtz explained. “But even after I graduate, I’ll come back to volunteer.”