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.
October 6, 2009
Horse Riding, Training and Showing Tips