While sitting here whining to myself about how tired I am because I couldn’t sleep last night and how sore my legs are from yesterday’s quite interesting ride, I realized a couple of things.

• I don’t have the time to be a whiny little crybaby. Why? Because I have a horse to train. He depends on me to teach him what he needs to know to be successful.  Our success at shows counts on my hours spent at the barn.  I count on me to hold myself accountable and just show up.  And sometimes, I count on a select few others to hold me accountable too.
• Judges at the show don’t care if I was too tired to go to the barn, all they care about is how we represent ourselves in that 10 minutes we are in front of them. All the preparation for weeks, months, years even that goes on behind the scenes is represented in a 10 minute class.  That really puts things into perspective, doesn’t it?  You have very little time in front of the judge to show them what you and your horse can do.  If you show up unprepared because you were “too tired” or “too sore” to put in the work behind the scenes, that’s just an excuse for the lazy and weak.
• Maybe I should work on my 2 point a little more and I wouldn’t be quite as sore after spending a good 20 minutes in said position while Fiz trotted and galloped around with the perception that he did not need to yield to the new bit I was trying. But hey, it wasn’t a total fail as he did so on the correct leads both directions.  Some day, when he doesn’t have show shoes on, I’m going to get him in a big open field and see how fast he can run, since that’s his favorite!

As told to me earlier today by my very understanding man, “suck it up buttercup.” And that’s exactly what I am going to do.  That’s what every AOT needs to do in order to be successful.  Stop making excuses.  Stop whining.  Get to the barn and put in the work.  Your horse will thank you.  You will thank yourself later.  Your coffee / monster / redbull / 5 hour energy/ whatever you use to keep you going – inspired moments of greatness can be discussed later over a bottle of wine with friends. That’s all the motivational speaking I’ve got in me for now folks.  Maybe my next post will actually include some useful training information.  Until then, carry on friends.

There will, without a doubt, be days where you feel like giving up.  Days where you question every decision you’ve ever made for your horse.  You will ask yourself “why do I even bother doing this on my own?” and you will worry, stress, and ruminate over all of the things you have done and will do in the future.  You will obsess over making the “right” decisions for your horse.  You will wonder if you are ruining your horse, if you are making bad habits worse, and if you should just send your horse to a professional and call your attempt at being an AOT a wash.  You will question your knowledge, your capabilities, your level of confidence and ability, and basically any and everything having to do with your horse.

Your horse will test you, challenge you, infuriate you even.  But when you feel like giving up, DON’T, and here’s why.  That is how it’s supposed to be.  That is how you get better.  You will make mistakes, you will have accidents, you will mess things up.  Stay the course.  Have a game plan, figure out what works for you, the horse you’re working, and the situation you’re in.  Make it work or make changes it until it does. Don’t give up after one failure.  After all, failure is a huge part of the learning process.  It can never click when something does work, if you never know what didn’t. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, to look for answers, to question, re-question, and re-evaluate when something doesn’t work.  Be constantly aware, and seek answers to questions you have.  Live, learn, and move forward.

There’s nothing more rewarding than that moment where it does finally click, and you know YOU did it.  You know you finally found something that worked. Amidst all the things that were working against you, you found answers. That moment when the light bulb finally comes on and the feeling you get from it, THAT is why you are an AOT. Remember that feeling in all the hard times.  That is why you do this.  You will know it when it happens.  Then you’ll be caught up in this addiction that consumes every thought in your brain so much that you sometimes have a really hard time thinking about anything else. In those moments, you are happy and content that you are the one who made the choices to get you to that point. Remember those highs on the bad days, and never give up on your dream OR your horse.

I am excited to say that it’s a GO for me, I get to attend the AOT clinic in Waukesha, WI in February with Clinician Melissa Moore!!!  I could not be more excited and have already started thinking of questions to ask while at the clinic.  I do wish I could stuff Fiz into a trailer and haul him 7 hours north to participate and receive instruction from a world champion trainer, but it’s just not in the cards for this year.  Maybe if there’s another clinic another time, we will be able to haul him.  As for this one, it will just be lots of listening, taking notes and learning!!!  🙂

Check out the clinic’s website below.

http://www.aotclinic.com/

I hear a lot of people talk about how American Saddlebreds are trained, and how we all abuse, neglect, torture, and mistreat our horses in the way that we train and keep them.  Let me just explain to you that not all saddlebreds are kept, trained, or treated in a manner that is mistreating them in any way, shape, or form.  There are bad apples in every breed and discipline out there, but you can’t judge the majority by looking at the few who conduct themselves poorly.  Below, I’m going to explain myself a little further.   I give you eleven reasons why our horse lives better than we do along with explanations of these reasons.

11 Reasons why our horse lives better than we do:

1)      His shoes cost more than ours.

I don’t know about you, but I spend MAYBE $40 on a pair of shoes, once every like 6 months IF I’m lucky.  Infact, I can’t remember the last time I bought a pair of shoes.  I am a disgrace to the female gender, I know.  Fiz’s shoes are custom made and cost about $90 every 6 to 8 weeks.

2)      He gets regular pedicures.

Last time I had a pedicure, hmmmm… Let’s see, I think I was in a wedding and I HAD to get one with all the other bridesmaids, as to have matching feet for the wedding.  I would not have done it otherwise.  So, does that really count?  Fiz gets pedicures the same as he gets shoes, every 6 to 8 weeks.

3)      He gets regular hair cuts.

I can’t remember the last time I had a hair cut-seriously, I can’t remember.  My hair is a mess most days anyway, so I guess it really doesn’t matter.  Barn hair is a good look, isn’t it?  Sigh.  Fiz gets a good hairbut every month at least, and he gets trims in between to keep him looking nice.

4)      He gets seen by a chiropractor.

I have never seen a chiropractor in my entire life.  Ever.  I mean, I wouldn’t even consider it because frankly, I don’t want to spend the money on the visit for myself.  But will pay for it for the horse.  I mean, horse people logic… haha.

5)      His living arrangements are paid for.

You know, by someone else.  Those of us who actually work for money and have jobs we go to every day.  Jobs we have to pay for our living arrangements (and our horse’s living arrangements as well).

6)      He gets fed as much as he wants to eat.

He gets fed literally as much hay as he can eat, and he has grass available to him almost 24/7.  If only I could just exist to eat food for the majority of my day!

7)      He only has to work about 30 minutes a day.

I go to work for about 10 hours every day.  I’m at the barn for about 2 hours most days.  Fiz gets brought in from his pasture, groomed, ridden or otherwise worked for about a half hour, gets bathed and groomed again, and gets to go back out to his pasture and continue eating, playing, and running around as he sees fit.

8)      He gets treats, like, ALL the time!

And he doesn’t even have to do much for them!  Even when I get treats, I have to work AND pay for my own treats!!!  What kind of nonsense is that?  He gets baked home made horse cookies, he gets peppermints, sugar cubes, carrots, apples, even Skittles and Cherry Coke!  Yes, I know, his teeth are going to rot out.  Not likely, but I’ll keep that in mind.

9)      He has someone to rub him, brush him, bathe him, etc.

Didn’t I already mention this?  He has someone else that comes and pampers him like some kind of luxury spa customer on a regular basis.

10)   He can poop in his bed, and someone else will come clean the sheets.

Yep, I said it.  Our horse can “shit the bed” and it doesn’t matter.  Someone comes every day to clean his stall, that one he’s not even in very often, and they remove all the muck and put down fresh bedding for him to enjoy.

11)   He can come and go as he pleases the majority of the time.

His living arrangements are that he can be in a field (with a shelter) to run, play and eat, almost 24/7.  He does what he wants for the majority of every single day of his life!  Sometimes even, he gets to be in a field attached to his stall, where his stall is tied open and he can come and go in and out of it, stand by his stall fan if he wants, or go play if he wants.  What a life!!!

So in closing, before you see us at a show (or anywhere for that matter) with our American Saddlebred and think he is tortured, abused, mistreated, etc… I encourage you to think about how pampered our horse is.  Think about all the reasons he lives better than we do, and think twice before you feel like riding, training, and showing an American Saddlebred is abuse.  More often than not, these horses are treated better than you could ever imagine!