While plotting next show season out. I can’t help but think back to showing as a kid in pleasure shows on my solid black registered Appaloosa Gelding BF Irving McBride…. 1 club was Saturday where I did 13 classes with Irving and the next club was Sunday and I did 14 classes with him! That horse wouldn’t pee all day at a horse show and I could barely get him to drink a bucket of water. I didn’t eat before a show and maybe ate a hotdog and drank half a can of Gingerale or sprite in late afternoon and he drank the other half.
Can we just think about that for a minute. Let’s think about how fit a horse had to be for that…how loved a horse had to be to try that hard… I played with him every single day. Spent hours and hours in his stall and maybe put effort into “working” him 1x a week.
He was ALWAYS happy, ALWAYS willing, ALWAYS up for any adventure. And I can honestly say all of my misfits here currently are the same exact way minus being fit. Not a one has a top line right now and that’s totally ok. They have NOTHING TO PROVE to anyone.
Cross training and a solid connection to your horses needs is key. Do I miss having a well bred, non issued horse, who stands in a box stall and maybe gets turned out 30mins to 1 hour, covered from tip of ears to end of tail so they don’t fade or get a mark. Feeding bags and bags of commercial grain, expensive supplements, special shoes. I’ll never not get good quality hay. Roughage is so so important.
Nope, I don’t miss putting my horses through that. I teach lessons to SHARE my horses and my knowledge with people who respect me, my time, and my heart.
I’m reshaping my business to open to a boarder audience and create a community in which I WANT to be a part of. So many times you live in an area like we currently do, where people forget to think for themselves. And day in and day out you’re brainwashed by products and systems because it’s well marketed. I suck at marketing myself and I only take on what comes naturally to me. People around me aren’t always “my people”.
I believe there are other people out there, like me. Who have so much to them. So much that comes at them because of their values, ethics, and morals. An empathy that is so hard to protect constantly and you’ve allowed people to drain your cup to the point you want to go into hiding. I FEEL YOU!!! Im about to create a community where we can find those like minded people. “Your people”.
It’s horses, it’s training, it’s mental work, it’s learning from experience and what to do and what not to do, it’s life lessons, it’s spiritual, it’s deep, it’s Real, and it’s AUTHENTIC.
I’m about to embark on my DREAM JOB….FINALLY!!
It’s FINALLY time!
~Ashley
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