I am a third generation horsewoman
My Mom says that I have been riding horses since before I was born, She often tells the story of how she went on a cattle drive when she was 9 months pregnant with me.
needless to say riding runs in through my veins... sometimes I think I should have been a horse, since I communicate so much better with them than with humans.
From left to right, Me on Glady, My mom on her horse Cody, My grandma on my moms horse Cody
I can remember taking my first independent riding lesson when I was 5 years old. I rode a white pony named "Glady" and I can remember riding around that arena and sliding off a whole of 3 times, but you can bet there wasn't anything you could do to stop be from hauling myself back on my little English saddle.
When I was 7 and my parents were going through their divorce my Mom worked crazy hours to support the family, even though we had to go without in a few areas I can never remember a time that I didn't have horses to comfort me.
When I was 8 I can remember the object of my wildest dreams becoming a reality. My Mom went to a trade show with a friend of hers and among the booths there was also a sport horse sale, being the horse lover that she was of course she decided to go check it out. Having no money as a single Mom of course she was not PLANNING to buy anything. So she sits in the stands and watches as one by one these thousand dollar warm-bloods come prancing out. As quickly as they came in they went out, People were there to buy their jumpers and they were getting them. Then something interesting happened, An itty bitty 3 year old Anglo Arabian gelding named "Rocky" (Registered name Allegro Plus) came out and politely trotted around with his rider in tow. No bids. The owner had made the mistake of not putting a reserve bid on him and the bidding was to start at $500. No bids. I don't know for sure what thought crossed her mind in that moment... But i imagine it being something along the lines of "What the heck". She took him home that night for a grand total of $600 including the cost of the trailer rental and the tickets she bought which won her a halter ( fate much?). She thought she would just ride him for a while and flip him for a profit, when she unloaded him from the trailer at the barn that I was taking my riding lessons someone offered her a large amount of money for him. In that moment I actually cant imagine what she was thinking, but she said no.
4 years later my Mom shipped me off to the beautiful Dawson City Yukon where my routine was sleep, eat and ride. I stayed with my Auntie Julia Fellers who is a truly gifted horsewoman. I blessed to have her in my life and have her genes run through me in hopes that some of that talent resonates in me also. She hosted an annual light horse open show at her property and she set me up with the horse, the clothes and the lessons, she gave me one of her very own buckles to show with (despite winning a few of my own over the years, I always wear hers as it carries a special place in my heart). I won the novice high-point at that horse show.
That was the beginning of the end...
When I got home from that trip that was it, I rode my horse every second possible. My parents put me in the local 4h club where I had another talented horsewoman to help me develop my abilities. In my 4h club I not only learned about record books and horse riding, I learned all about politics, healthy and unhealthy competition.
My dream job has always been to be a horse trainer, When I was 16 I told my parents that I wanted to go to Olds college to get a degree in Equine Sciences, They said no. In their defense they wanted me to go to school for something that wasn't so risky. So that's exactly what I did. I went to mount royal for 1 semester where I met my husband Mark, then I got my medical office assistant certificate from SAIT and have been working in that field part time ever since.
After all that I still couldn't shake the need to pursue the horse training.
I had been teaching riding lessons here and there for a few years and I thought you know, I am going to give this a shot. I posted a very honest ad on Kijiji offering my services thinking I wouldn't get a whole lot of interest ( because why would someone want to take lessons from me). Much to my surprise... I was turning people away. I had SO MANY responses that I could have started a full program right then and there. WOW! what a feeling and a boost of confidence.
Then this happened.
I had a perspective client email me looking for a teacher for her very very young child.I explained that I would be happy to give it a try to see if it would be a good fit, but that i prefer to take students older than a certain age. She freaked. Told me I don't know what I am doing and that she will be telling everyone how terrible I am .. I took down my ad. Doing that was Fail #1
After a few weeks of feeling sorry for myself I tried again, and I found a few really sweet clients who I had the pleasure of teaching this past summer.
Do I know everything there is to know about horses? Absolutely not. I am learning every day and I believe that I will never stop learning. I think it is easy to become discouraged when your "Chasing your dream" because you already think of it as just that. A dream.you think there is no chance it could become a reality. I've now been teaching and training part time for 2 years and am loving it. I have just enough clients to keep me busy on top of my part time work at the hospital.
Chatting with Shannon Grams at their clinic in Forestburg Alberta.
Maybe I will never have a million dollar horse breeding facility, I may not present clinics to more than 30 people, but as long as I am working with horses I am doing what I love. Everybody makes mistakes, If you have no room for improvement then you are not human. What may seem like the end of all hope and possibility or a "failure", is just a bump in the road. We (myself included obviously) need to more positive, yes you can chase your dreams!
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