Memoirs of a Riding Instructor

I   heard somewhere that during your lifetime you may effect as many as 800,000 people. That means that you, intentionally or unintentionally, impact the 800,000 people you come in contact with throughout your life. Those people will then go on and effect 800,000 people, and they will effect 800,000 people, and so on, and so on. Kind of scary thinking, huh? So that got me thinking... "How have I been making my impact?"   and more importantly  "How would  I like to effect those 800,000 people?' I have no idea how many people I have already touched, for better or for worse. I have images of childhood friendships, family, business relationships, students, and I'm sure there are quite of few that I didn't even know, or that I was effecting them at all.  Perhaps simply a spectator at a horse show that was touched by something I did or didn't do.  I think back to my earlier post regarding Dara Torres. I have never met her. I never even knew she exist...

Gave a lesson to a ten year old who was feeling overwhelmed with school and wanted to have an easy day, and just play and ride. I was letting her show her grandma how she can jump around the field over some simple fences and she got left behind and popped off. Me:  "Hey, you had a great ride today, minus your stunt riding. Sorry you fell off. Today was supposed to be a fun day with no pressure." Kid : (Grinning from ear to ear) "Who said falling off isn't fun?"

I must give a shout out to Adeptus Nutrition and Dr. Colleen Wilson. I am proud to have them as a sponsor for Tribal King but Adeptus is such a fabulous product line, you all should be using it! Dr. Colleen has a PhD in Equine Nutrition. She has been an advocate for true horse nutrition for many years and started her own company, Adeptus Nutrition , after feeling that most companies use sub standard products and do not truly understand the true needs of horses. Her products are made from human grade ingredients in a top quality facility. She refuses to cut corners when it comes to quality. I met Dr. Colleen when we had Iron Horse Saddlery. I was so impressed with her knowledge and ability to educate us in the value of her products and the myths and misunderstandings of many supplements that are on the market. We carried her products in our store and I was our first customer. Since then I have been blown away by the results that I have seen. Having a store, we would get sample...

A Conversation with David O'Connor I was very fortunate to share a shuttle ride with David on the way back from the Show Jumping Course Design clinic and had about an hour to talk about a variety of interesting topics. After the trip I asked him if it would be alright if I shared some of our conversation with the Adult Riders of Area VI. He thought it was a great idea. So here we go: Cross Country Schooling. He feels that you only need three acres to have a cross country schooling area that is great for the horses and easy for the trainer to teach. As many of you know, when we get out in the big fields, it is very hard to hear your trainer as they are yelling directions out. And you are lucky if you can get a few fences in a row. His facility in Virginia has a 3 acre area that they have as their cross country schooling area. He has about a 40' mound that gives him terrain questions to work on. (Highly recommends a mound). He also has a few combinations on b...