Success in any endeavor is a matter of hard work, determination, focus and, to some extent, luck.

Rachael Rees, 15, of Bend, has all of the above in spades.

The Bend High freshman has been extremely successful in her short life. Her resume reads like that of some over-achieving kid that scares the pants off of most adults. Champion this, high point that, honors over here, achievements over there.

However, Rees is a real, down-to-earth person. And what makes her and her successes interesting is the fact that, as far as she’s concerned, she’s just an ordinary teenager, going about her very intense business.

”I like to achieve. I have a lot of desire, and I always want to keep learning,” says Rees.

The focus of her life, since she was small, has been horses.

Back in Florida, Rees’ maternal grandmother put her on the back of a horse when she was barely old enough to sit upright. When her family moved to Bend seven years ago, Rees got her first horse for her 10th birthday.

”We made every mistake in the book,” says Debby Rees, Rachael’s mother.

Not knowing much about horses, Rachael’s parents bought her a young, green-broke mare. Matching a green horse with a green rider is a recipe for disaster, but somehow Rees and her quarter horse mare Tees My Valentine (Barbie) managed to survive.

”We had our fair share of problems, but we grew together. She’s my baby,” Rachael says.

Taking a visitor down to the barn to meet her horses, the redhead comes across as a very centered, calm person. Her mare sees her approaching and trots across the paddock, nickering and shaking her flaxen mane. The animal breathes into the girl’s face and Rachael places a palm against the mare’s cheek. There is a pause while Rachael smiles at her horse, and then Barbie wanders back to her pile of alfalfa.

It turned out that the team of Rachael and Barbie was an excellent combination. In the past five years they have competed, and won, in everything from Western Pleasure and working cows to dressage and jumping.

In the living room of their house, the Reeses talk about what it takes to produce a champion horse and rider.

”Frankly, we make a lot of sacrifices for Rachael,” says Debby Rees. ”But my passion is horses, so it’s a pleasure to help and to watch her grow.”

For any child to be successful, there has to be some serious underpinnings of support.

Her parents, Mark and Debby, provide some of that support. They drive endlessly, shop for show clothes, encourage, help down at the barn and are there emotionally for the girl.

Amid a great deal of laughter, the Rees family shares stories of a bucking Barbie sending Rachael flying into the dirt just after the pair accepted the high point award at a show. They bring out scrapbooks, and show off trophies. They point out the piano that Rachael plays every day, and talk about her being a 4.0 honors student at high school.

There is a great deal of love there.

There is also some hard-headed pragmatism, especially from the teenager.

As children do, Rachael has narrowed her focus of interest down in terms of her riding. She has fallen in love with jumping, and her quarter horse mare can only take her so far.

”Jumping is the most fun, and Barbie can’t take me where I want to go,” she says.

So now there is a 17.1-hand thoroughbred gelding in the paddock next to Barbie. His name is X-Clusive Victory (Clue), and Rees has no doubt that she is going to learn a lot of lessons with him as the years pass.

Her short-term goal is to ride Clue in Hunter classes locally, and eventually compete at the High Desert Classics horse show. Her long-term goal is to become an Olympic show jumper.

Rees is aware that patience, or the lack of it, is her greatest weakness.

”I want things to work, and when they don’t, I get frustrated,” she says.

She admits that horses have taught her to keep that frustration tightly in check.

”If I get mad, Barbie gets uptight and stressed. Then we can’t do anything. I just can’t go there.”

Rachael knows that she’s not in this game alone. She credits the many, many people who have helped her. She mentions all of her trainers, and the 4-H people who have made it possible for her to have the kind of success in riding that she has enjoyed thus far.

She also makes a point of trying to give something back by being a junior 4-H leader, volunteering at Healing Reins, and just helping her friends become better riders.

Success is indeed a matter of hard work, determination and focus. And Rachael Rees, 15, looks a person right in the eye and says: ”I can do anything I want to do. I will achieve it. I will find a way.”

Katrina Hays can be reached at kmhays1@earthlink.net.