Erica Frazee received her first horse when she was about one year old and then another at age two.
"If the nursing doesn't take over my schedule, I hope to do it the rest of my college career," she said. "It's really fun."
Frazee's commitments vary from attending Bible study to equestrian team meetings to a 17 credit-hour workload. She also teaches people ranging from elementary school kids to adults how to ride horses.
"I do a lot of different things," Frazee said. "The stress from being involved in so much comes in spells. It's usually not too bad."
Frazee is involved in horse competitions and has worked extensively with the Morgan breed. One competition she has devoted a lot of her time to is the American Morgan Horse Association Youth of the Year Finals Contest in Oklahoma City.
Amanda Ryan, membership services representative of AMHA, said that 15 to 25 people usually participate in the Youth of the Year Finals Contest.
This year the contest was Oct. 9, 10 and 11, and 24 people from all over the world attended.
"People come all the way from Canada and England to show their horses," Ryan said. "It's the biggest competition of the year for Morgan horses."
After winning a regional contest, Frazee qualified to perform in the AMHA and was given a $700 award on behalf of the contest's 30th anniversary. All participants received this award to generate interest in the competition.
The winner chooses anywhere in the world to go for a month to be an AMHA ambassador to educate people about the breed.
"Tremendous amount of studying is required for those that compete in the finals contest in Oklahoma," Ryan said. "Once they get to nationals, there is a four-phase contest, which includes a 250 question written exam, an oral presentation, an interview and the horse judging competition."
Frazee's father, Eric Frazee, has accompanied her on four trips to Oklahoma City for the AMHA competition.
"She's been involved with horses as long as she remembers," Eric Frazee said.
Erica Frazee's interests have developed into a deeper passion, her dad said. She is also helping older adults with their riding, he said.
"She's 18 but has about 16 years of experience," Eric Frazee said. "It's kind of interesting that someone younger can help older people."
Helping other people is interspersed with Erica's heavy workload as a nursing major; both her academic and equestrian schedules require a lot of time and dedication.
"At the beginning, schoolwork and horse training was hard to balance," Erica Frazee said. "For competition we had to learn the anatomy of a horse and the knowledge of that has transferred over to anatomy class."
Eric Frazee said that his daughter has a strong work ethic and is selfless, which is evident in her newfound joy in helping children with horses.
"She is really genuine and goal-oriented," Eric Frazee said. "She spends her day at school and spends the rest of the time giving lessons and going to Bible study. She decided to go into nursing but is still a very dedicated kid who will put her heart into everything she's involved in."
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