Time for Change in the Horse Show Industries
October 6, 2009 by Jean
Filed under Horse Lovers Chat
At a recent horse show I stood with a friend whom I had not seen in years as she tearfully and angrily told me a story of how heartbroken she was with the horse show world in general and two specific trainers in particular.
These two trainers had hurt her both emotionally and financially because of the way they handled a horse that she took to them for training and to be sold.
Her story while sad is not a new story, the things she recanted to me happen over and over again. I have encountered many of these same types of things throughout my years of owning and breeding horses. My pat phrase is that if I let the trash that happens get to me then I would get out of horses altogether. Which, since I love horses would be a huge loss to me.
At my age, I have worked in the corporate world, been active in many volunteer organizations including churches and I’ve learned this sad thing. When you get people involved in anything, you will have those who are insecure, so they must gossip and back bite and hurt others to make themselves feel better. You have people who lie and cheat and even steal to meet their own needs not caring how they hurt others. You have people who seemingly have no moral ethics at all. And you have people who just like to get and keep drama and chaos going on around them at all times.
I’ve also met people who want to help, who love to do good for others, and who are willing to go out of their way to be friendly and helpful and honest human beings.
If we let the first type of individuals keep us from doing the things that we enjoy then they win and we lose. We lose out on doing things that we love to do.
Do we let them win or do we simply speak with our feet and our pocket book and find new ways of doing things that do not include them in our lives?
Just as I told this person, I choose to keep doing what I love and speak with my feet. I don’t need to be around unethical people and there are great people out there, including in the horse world.
If you encounter unethical individuals no matter who they are and what industry they are in, then speak with your feet and your voice. Speak out and up and move on. Find the type of people you do want to spend your time with.
That is now and has been my choice. I refuse to allow “them” to push me out of something I love.
Great article Jean! Love what you have to say and how important it is to keep things positive for our own health and betterment of the horse industry. It is sad; however, we can live, learn, and move forward as that is the only way to stay true and alive in this horse industry. We live in a competitive society that sometimes gets out of hand and we need to stop and look at own own accountability in how we would want to be treated in the end. It is just like the work force out there. There have been companies where I could work years and years as well as retire in the end. For example, Boise Cascade Corporation had TQM….Total Quality Management that consisted of true team work, collaboration, and respect among all (AND I MEAN EACH AND EVERY EMPLOYEE) with warm kindness, unselfishness, friendly, accepting collegues. We all loved working there. There was also the true competitive edge of working for a cellular company which had massive employee turn over, fear of losing their jobs, and negative feelings that plagued those around. It was miserable and hard to avoid. You would be lucky to stay on the company for longer than a year there. Recognizing the unhealthy signs, I decided to move on to a life changing career in teaching and making a positive influence and difference in their lives.
With these life changing experiences, I believe we gravitate towards the positive things in life and those around us. I guess that is why some trainers are more successful than others….people skills is a huge part of providing excellent customer service and professionalism. It is like spreading apart the stallions from our geldings out there…there is a huge difference between the two. lol.