It's Not Always Beautiful

As with everything that we learn, there are struggles as we go through that learning curve.  Despite the front that social media allows us to portray, not everything is beautiful; not everything is rainbows and butterflies.  So often we only see the triumphs instead of the failures leaving us with the sinking feeling of why are we struggling so much on our own journey to do the same thing?  The fact is, that we all have our own struggles, just not many people are willing to share it.

The past year I've started doing a horsemanship and barrel racing clinics.  It's been a great experience being able to help people learn how to communicate a clearer picture to their equine partner and to help share the love of horsemanship to my students all the while helping them succeed in barrel racing. It's been rewarding and something that I love to do. Teaching has become a passion. At my clinics, I start out by doing a demonstration on one of my more solid horses so that I can paint a clear picture to my students what my end goal is. My demo horse has gone through these motions every day that I've saddled her up since she was two (she's now seven). It's easy for her and second nature. A foundation build on willing submission, she makes things look simple when they are not.  Although it's valuable to visualize that end goal the demonstration doesn't show the rocks we climbed to get to that point. I get a lot of looks like "you make that look easy" when in fact in the beginning it wasn't.  It didn't get that way over night and it's not going to stay that way without working at it every-single-day.  We live in a world of instant gratification but the real world doesn't work that way.

I was doing a drill yesterday on my demo horse that should have been easy for her. For what she can do, it really should have been a cake walk but I'd never done this particular drill before on her.  I thought, if only my students could see me now. It wasn't pretty.  However as we chipped away and broke down the barriers of miscommunication, it did become "beautiful".  I wished I could have had a video of that process to show my students that we all struggle, and not everything is piece of cake.

As proud of my mare as I am when we do these demonstrations, showing that we are working together as one and with willing submission; I was even more proud of her yesterday as we found holes in our foundation and we fixed them.  Life isn't like Facebook and Instagram where all that is shown and thrown at us is rainbows and butterflies. If you look past social media you see the blood, the sweat, the tears, and the endless hours of dedication to hone your craft.  You'll see the times that we take two steps back after taking just one step forward.  You'll see those that are not willing to give up just because they had a set back or things didn't go their way.  You'll see those fighting, working, striving to always get better and not always looking for an opportunity to post to their social media page how great life is. Life is hard, but keep working at it. Keep working towards your goal and know that those of us that are in the real world, we're right beside you - working with you, supporting you and here for you the whole way!

DON'T. GIVE. UP.

Destruction Or Destiny?

I don't know where you are but here in Montana, it's COLD! I mean, C.O.L.D. cold! Although we have only just begun the winter season, it feels like a lifetime ago since we've seen even sweatshirt weather.  This winter has been brutal. Brutal on the livestock and the people that care for them.  With near records amounts of snow and cold, it's not an ideal time to be riding for horse or rider, leaving us susceptible for the winter time blues.

It's easy to get in the winter time blues. Just stand out in the cold cutting baling twine on bale after bale until you can't feel your fingers as you're trying to feed cows.  Or see your horse trailer get buried under snow after your husband had just cleared it and the road the day before. Or dealing with frozen water hoses for the umpteenth time.  Or... Or.... Or...The struggles of winter have a way of wearing on a person and in case you haven't noticed already, they've worn on me.

Beating the winter time blues can be easily remedied by going somewhere where it's warmer for the duration; so in Montana, expect to be gone until June.  Unfortunately for me, my life situation doesn't quite allow me to pick up and leave.  As I was wallowing in the blues, I started thinking about things.  It's easy to sit stagnant in the house, wishing you could be somewhere warm, riding, not worrying about frozen water hoses, thawing out your coveralls and if your toes will return back to normal color, etc. Right now the opportunity to ride is slim, but the opportunity to grow, to prepare, and achieve your goals is right at your grasp!  I've decided that since moving to Arizona right now is impossible,  there has to be other ways to beat the winter time blues and be improving myself and my barrel racing game.  I started asking myself with everything I was doing, "Am I walking towards destruction or to destiny?" That time that I'm wasting time and energy wishing that I could be in the saddle, I can be putting to good use to improve my barrel racing game without actually stepping foot out of my warm, toasty, climate controlled house.

Here's a couple things I've found to help me beat the winter time blues:

• GOAL SETTING - I'm not a big goal setter, you know the "2017 is a whole new year - whole new life" kind of person. But when it comes to my horses, I need to know and focus on where I'm going with each individual, what is my ultimate goal and where I do I need them to be by a certain time, etc.  If I don't have that in mind, I won't know if I'm behind or on schedule.  Because I ride mostly colts that I hope to futurity, this is an important factor for me. 

• DIET AND EXERCISE - yeah I know, we're coming off the holidays and we've been packing on a couple extra pounds, now is the time to take careful watch over what you eat and start working out on those six pack abs (they've gotta be in there somewhere right?) 
• So at first glance I realize this doesn't sound all that fun, but once you get into the habit, the feel good feeling you get after completing a work out, you'll be seeing what I mean about beating the blues. 

• MAKE A GAME PLAN - Get out  a yearly calendar and write down the races that have been scheduled.  Some you may make and some you may not, but focus on the ones that you're wanting to make. Refer to your Goal Setting to know what will be most beneficial to you, your horse, and your ultimate goal. 

• IMPROVING THE MENTAL GAME - The mental aspect of barrel racing is vital.  You may have the horse and you may have the ability but if your mind isn't in the game, your ship has sunk.  I listen to a lot of motivational speeches or read up on mental toughness. My favorite book is Mind Gym by Gary Mack but there are several out there that I've enjoyed and revisited through the years. 

• RESEARCH - Instead of scrolling through Facebook seeing all the videos and pictures of your friends riding in t shirts in Texas or Arizona, spend some time researching a topic that would be beneficial to you and your horses.  For instance, if you have a bleeder, learn more about EIPH, what is it? what does it do? how to prevent it? how to treat? you get the picture.  Have a problem last fall with a horse, watch barrel racing or horsemanship videos. Study, take notes, and be prepared to use it when you saddle up. Knowledge is power and here's a chance to educate yourself. 

• CLEAN & DECLUTTER - Get your equipment ready to use. Now's a great time to clean those saddles, check chicago screws, make repairs as needed, etc.  Get everything in order and ready to go so that when the day comes to ride, all you have to do is saddle up! 

• CATCH UP - For me being a mom of three boys, trying to help my husband with the cattle, my horses, all the while managing the house, I realize that now is a great time to be catching up on things in the house so that when it's nice outside, I can utilize that sunshine.  Spring cleaning starts now (it may be 8 years late but better late then never right?), meal planning and making freezer meals, doing things now that will make my life and my family's lives easier come spring. 

In thinking of ways to help improve my barrel racing game as well as life in general; I was amazed at all that I could do and work on from the comforts of home.  There's so much more that you can do, maybe you do this already, maybe you do some of it. Regardless I hope that this helps those that are in the same position as me and needing to beat those winter time blues.   Ask yourself, are you on the road for destruction (wasting time when you could be doing something to benefit yourself and your family) or are you on the road to your destiny (taking meaningful steps that will improve and help you reach your ultimate goals). Make your your actions meaningful!  

Hold strong my friends, there's light at the end of the tunnel!  I see 20s and even 30s in the 10 day forecast!