Filling stalls
Today I had a conversation with a good friend and something came up that I had completely forgotten about. Something was said to me that struck me hard and made me doubt myself more than ever. I decided to take a lesson with a trainer that I had met a few times. I've worked with enough trainers who have broken my confidence that I am very weary of taking lessons. However, this one seemed okay. So I drove 5 hours away in hopes of coming back with a bunch of new knowledge. I rode nice horses. And I mean, REALLY nice horses. Which was exceptionally exciting to me because no trainer has ever let me ride the "nice" horses. Those were for the "good" riders. Anyway, while riding the second horse this trainer told me there weren't any more horses in the barn that were at my level (low). Although my confidence went down, I acknowledged that this was a professional opinion that was greater than mine. While riding this horse, I didn't feel like I was getting much instruction other than how to fix this horse which was not what I initially came in for. Finally I asked what I could do differently as a rider. And this was the response, "I'm not saying you're the worst rider I've ever seen, but you have a lot to improve on." Which directly translated to me as "you're the worst rider I've ever seen." Then, I thought about another trainer I worked with a year prior. This one I drove 8 hours to see and after watching me ride my horse, he told me he didn't have anything quiet enough for me to ride. Both of these instances happened less than 5 years ago. In the past 5 months I have had more than 15 horses come into my stalls for training from me. These 8 stalls you see have not been empty for 3 months. I will never say that those trainers were wrong. They are both proven veterans in the professional horse industry and have trained a heck of a lot more than 15 horses. They know much more than I know and I truly value that. But there is one thing they didn't know and that is how hard I'm willing to work. In fact, I didn't even know how hard I was willing to work. So today my message is simple. The horse industry is hard and none of us will ever have it mastered. Its work and it's hard work. But if I had let those trainers convince me that I wasn't good enough, these stalls would still be empty. Whatever you're doing, know that hard work trumps everything. Even a professional opinion.