Riding is a partnership like none other, every day is different because your horse has it’s own feelings, moods and experiences. I fell in love with riding over other sports because it was so challenging and yet so fulfilling when everything comes together. I still feel lucky to be able to work and learn from horses.
For many years before we owned our own horse farm, I taught or trained from any field or barn that I could. I loved sharing and putting to use what I learned from some truly amazing horsemen and women, Olympians and cowboys alike in both North America and Europe.
When Cori was four I was helping teach and train at Willow Grove Stables in Calgary, Canada and this is where she got started riding as purely a form of babysitting. I would bring one of the lesson horses in from the paddock for Cori to ride and then she would pull a milk carton over to stand on so she could brush and tack up the horse all on her own! Then she'd join whatever lesson I was teaching. Some days she would ride three different horses in that many of my lessons. She loved learning and was lucky to have some amazing school horses to “babysit” her. One of them was "Dude" shown in the photo. (Who we recently found out was bred and raised by a friend of ours, Janine Olsen of Two Willow Equine. Talk about a small world.)
I remember that at some of her first horse shows we would sleep at the show grounds in our camper van so I could get up and braid 5-6 horses before she woke up in the morning, to help pay for her horse show entries. As time went by we bought and ran our own stable and Cori’s riding became our focus. But now I am riding again and Cori isn’t. The other day I was cleaning my horse and tack after my ride and thought of how much further along I am because of the experiences we had through Cori’s riding career. The talented horses we had for her, the people we met and learned from, the traveling, and so much more.
I remember so vividly what renowned horseman, Norman Dello Joio once said at a clinic, "Never practice anything in your daily rides that you wouldn’t want to use in the show ring". Such great advice in riding and in life really. Basically don't put your time and energy into something that you know isn't productive, including negativity and self doubt.
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