At first glance, Ryleigh Harmon seems to be just another high school student. But Ryleigh is anything but ordinary.
Ryleigh rides horses with an English saddle, competes in horse shows, and has placed in those competitions on multiple occasions. To top it all off she’s part of the THS swim team, the new diving team, and water polo.
At the age of 6, little Ryleigh fell in love with horses.
“I just saw them one day at school and thought, ‘Hey I wanna do that,” Ryleigh said looking back those many years ago.
By age 9, she was already competing in horse shows. A year ago, Ryleigh and her family purchased Hurvey to compete and practice with. Hurvey is a 16 year-old brown thoroughbred horse.
“The best way to describe him is that he’s really dorky.” Ryleigh giggled, “But he’s really athletic. He’ll run to every jump and doesn’t care how hard you run him.”
Ryleigh also rides a large thoroughbred named Ivy. He’s much younger than Hurvey, but can be quite the scaredy cat. Luckily Ivy isn’t afraid to jump.
“I ride Hurvey when it’s a more laid back competition with no jumps.” Ryleigh explained. “Because he’s so old. So I usually ride Ivy for the competitions with more jumps.”
Currently, Ryleigh is also on the JV swim team. She started swimming competitively in the 7th grade and has continued since. Ryleigh also became an unwilling participant in water polo because it’s required for those on swim.
“I thought having to do water polo was stupid.” Ryleigh said with a smile, “But after a couple of practices I began to like it.”
On water polo Harmon is a wing, but at times a flat. She is also currently part of the new diving team. With all these commitments, Ryleigh’s daily schedule goes like this:
Get up for school, go to school, go to swim practice, go to diving practice, then horse riding.
Although definitely skilled in athletics, Ryleigh is no mere jock. She is currently in multiple PAP classes and is doing well in all of them. A renaissance individual, a jack of all trades.
Ryleigh is a perfect example of the school’s motto, the Pride of Texas.