Some people who participate in a sport called Eventing have a special bond with an animal needed for the sport — a horse. In fourth grade through her freshman year, sophomore Samantha Fogg had a partnership with a horse named Wishful Thinking, but now she has a close bond with a horse named Arrow.

“It was Wish’s last year in eventing, so I needed another horse that I could train myself,” Fogg said.

Eventing consists of dressage, which is the first stage where horses are required to do intricate movements. Cross Country is the second stage for horses to jump obstacles at a fast speed, and show jumping is the final stage when horses jump over fragile, colored fences within the time limit.

Before Fogg was about to go watch a four-star horse eventing competition called Rolex, she decided to go to Makers Mark Secretariat Center. The center had horses available for adoption. Although Fogg was only there for fun, she saw a horse named Mindanao. She got on the horse for a test run, simply for the fun of it.

“He was actually pretty smart during the run,” Fogg said. “He didn’t try to throw me off and behaved well.”

After she attended Rolex, Fogg went straight back home. She had begun getting ready for a different event she would attend with Wishful Thinking. The ground was slick and wet the night before the event.  During the event, Fogg tried to be cautious since the ground was wet, and she did not want Wish to get hurt. Fogg found out Wish was painfully limping when she led him up a hill after the event. Wishful Thinking had bowed his tendon, so Fogg had to leave him alone for a year to rest.

“To be honest, I cried a lot because he was like my partner in crime,” Fogg said.

Around the middle of the year, Fogg realized she needed to get another horse for the year, so she asked Makers Mark if she could adopt Mindanao. Makers Mark accepted her request, and Fogg drove with her parents back to the horse adoption center. They took Mindanao with them and renamed him to Arrow amid the ride back to Kansas City.

Now Arrow currently has some leftover health issues from stress relating to a previous injury that occurred in the summer due to playing too hard in the field. Fogg is currently waiting for Arrow to recover and said she longs for the day when she goes back to the horse eventing competitions, but this time with Arrow.