I have finally caught up with the qualifiers for the 2012 Olympics...(huge thanks to USEF Network!!!!)
I am not going to lie, Beezie always has been and will be my idol, Kent not far behind and in the first couple rounds I was just amazed by #1. how many young riders there are, #2. how many rails were getting pulled by practically everyone (even the people doing this FOREVER) and #3. how bad the course was winning! Goodness, I know it's a tough course but wow, those that did well certainly deserved it!!! I always am skeptical of the young riders coming in. I know they need to start somewhere, get the experience and grow to be professionals but I like when the US kicks butt and I think when young riders with less experience come in on very very nice horses, sometimes mistakes happen. Well anyway, props for being young and getting somewhere big, but I really really want to talk about Ms. Reed Kessler....holy phenomenal. I absolutely adore this kid. She goes in and lays down a ride to be proud of, you don't look at her and see that she's just a kid, I had to double take and be like, no, actually she is 17 and riding the CRAP out of this course. Just AWESOME! Anyway, I wanted to post a little blurb/link from the Chronicle about her, because not only is she an awesome rider, she's not one of those snotty horse-show kids that you can find.....she knows her stuff, and just seems so incredibly awesome...
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I think for those of us that are fortunate enough to work with "horsemen" forget that horsemanship relates to safety, for the horse, rider, client, etc. Being in a school and teaching setting while in Alfred, and working at a place at home that has taken in people from foreign countries, really puts a highlight on this. At home, we don't know what we are getting into, we see the application, a person shows up and they either are what they say, or not and have the experience they say they have or not. Sometimes when something goes awry or someone gets hurt its simply because someone made a mistake or doesn't know. That isn't to say that bad things don't happen if you are a good horseman, as they do but I think the risk is that much more multiplied when you add lack of confidence, experience, and horsemanship.
I think this also ties well into the people running barns that don't want to do the work themselves. When you are talking 100 or 200 horses, obviously that is not a one person job, but at home the breeding farm with 150-200 head of horses works and runs perfectly smooth with 8 people working, and the 2 best bosses ever :). Whatever that saying is, "too many cooks spoil the whatever" goes the same way for farms...too many workers leads to things that get missed ("I thought you did this" "I thought you told that person to do that" "so and so was supposed to do that") and accidents and mistakes. There is too much gray area, someone always is depending on the other person to get something they don't want to do, done. And to manage so many people is also next to impossible. There is no way to keep track of who is where and who is supposed to be doing what on top of staying aware of the things that need to get done, horses that need work, etc. Again, not that it can't be done, but it takes a high level of organization and probably a pair of brass balls to ensure that your workers are doing a good job (and you have the fear of god ingrained in them when it comes down to what you have to say!!!) Anyway, moral of the story is #1 communication is key to running a successful barn and #2 proper horsemanship = safety As always, leave your input and lets have a discussion! Finally, the temperatures are warm, the sun is shining and we are riding outside.
Ozzy has decided that he wants another year of competing so he has been working hard on his dressage and turning and has been doing daily walking hill work around our pastures. Hopefully the weather will stay nice and we can move up to trotting and find a place to do canter sets...if not we will have to wait until we are home for that. The fresh air is doing everyone some good and this good weather is inspiring people to want horses in their lives. Email is through the roof with everyone interested in horses, but we need to get some people out to SEE the horses. We have a show schedule set, so SOON we will get our horses out in the public eye!!! |
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