Hello, my name is Kate and this is my dog, Lucy.  I have a stutter. When I stutter, I repeat sounds or words over and over.

My stuttering makes me feel embarrassed, because I'm a normal girl like everyone else.  

After school, I like to go to the horse barn for riding lessons. 

First, I need to get my horse out of the field. Next, I brush the dirt off of its back. Then I put the saddle on.

In our lesson, we are learning trick riding. I am practicing standing on my horse's back. During the lesson, the other girl's make fun of my stuttering. This makes me sad and want to cry. 

Neigh-neigh

At school, I get nervous when I speak in front of my classmates. When I'm nervous, I stutter a lot. 

I had to give a report about horseback riding and I stuttered a lot. 

During the report, some of the students started to laugh. I got upset, and left the classroom. 

I ran down the hall to find my speech teacher.

My speech teacher helped me to use my calm-down and smooth speech strategies. I took deep breaths and got a drink of water. She made me feel better. 

That day, I went to the barn after school because being around the horses always makes me happy.