Rider has the reins of her childhood dream

By Spencer Baselice

Correspondent

ROCKPORT -- When Krissie Burnham was younger, her mother told her to go outside and play, so she climbed over a stone wall and ran across a field to the Charlie Lane horse stables where she started riding horses.

The stable owners used to offer pony rides for 50 cents, and they paid her to help give the rides and collet the money.

"Then all the money they paid me, I went and spent on their pony rides," Burnham said.

Now, she travels two hours each way to ride her horse once a week, managing a full-time job and a family. She attends events all over New England with her husband, Richard Dan Burnham, riding her own horse in a show class and giving lessons to people who have ridden all their lives.

"I never had a horse or trainer growing up," Burnham said. "I'm living a childhood dream."

Her horse, Sippin' Chocolate, is ranked tops in the nation in Senior Trail class and Western Pleasure, a style of riding that incorporates both grace and fluidity, and ranks in the top five in several other categories.

Burnham has taken naturally to show riding in her adult life, even after her parents refused to buy her a pony.

"They said no because then they would have to buy one for all of my sisters," she said, noting that she has three of them.

Burnham was surprised at her ranking because she is a newcomer with little professional instruction in the world of show horses. This is the first year she has taken professional show riding lessons.

Burnham is quick to give most of the credit to Sippin' Chocolate, a circuit veteran who is stabled in Connecticut.

"He is amazing," she said. "He can do a 360-degree turn in a box he can hardly fit in."

To compete in the Western Pleasure class, the horse must trot in controlled steps, using a certain amount of force, and the rider must have a keen sense of how the horse behaves.

In the first three months she rode Sippin' Chocolate, Burnham amassed enough points and recognition to be invited to last year's world championships, where she placed ninth in her category. It was her goal to place in the top 10

"I already achieved my main goal," said Burnham, who is employed as a social worker. "It would be great to be No. 1 in the world," she said, "But I just go to the world's because my husband loves it."

There are different levels of competition, national, regional and world, but since she has achieved her goal, she is content to keep riding simply to pursue her passion.

She has owned several horses in her adult life, some Morgans and a few riding horses, but never an Appaloosa show horse.

"The world of show horses is so new to me," she said.

She bought her first Appaloosa, Strip on Down, before she bought Sippin' Chocolate, whose age and experience has helped take her to the level she is at now.

"It is just great to have a passion and an outlet," she said. "A lot of people said it couldn't be done."

Many people said it was impossible to follow her passion for horse riding with twins and a full-time job, but in her short career she has already won several competitions and has a good chance at placing in the top 10 in the world at this year's world championships in Fort Worth, Texas.

"I've had a lot of support," she said. "People will say, 'Yeah, anytime you need to, we'll take the kids for the weekend' if I need to go to a competition."

Last year she was ranked a novice, and this year she has already accumulated the 50 points it takes to be designated nonprofessional.

Her peers ask her when she is going to be rated in the professional class so they can at least have a chance at winning, but Burnham has little interest in joining that class.

Her main interest is satisfying that little girl who had a love for riding horses.