Rewards

Some things happened this weekend that got me thinking about hard work and what comes out of it. Sadly, sometimes you get nothing. However, I think that in life one of the only guarantees is that if you actually put effort into something, for better or for worse there will be a result.

The Oak Rise Year End Awards Banquet was yesterday. As you can see, Sky and I got some stuff. Mainly we got awards b/c we showed up to enough shows, but we did do some winning this year, so I can’t say I was surprised. We got W/T Adult Champion, which I knew was coming but it still felt good to hear them call Rose second and me first. We got a big ribbon and a garment bag with embroidery for that. I have to say, I am a little bummed I didn’t get the director’s chair, but you don’t get to pick your prize.

Then we had some surprises. I won a trophy for Overall Adult Champion, which I had no idea I would get – I was expecting to get fourth or fifth on that – and Overall Adult Pleasure Champion, which yielded a very cool trophy with a horse who looks like Sky on top! Of course I was thrilled to be recognized for doing well, although I cannot shake from my mind that, considering how much money I put into the shows, I simply paid for all of this stuff instead of winning it. But the stuff wasn’t the good part.

The good part was having Karl sitting next to me during the banquet when he, if it were not for a bum shoulder, would be in Iraq in danger of being killed. The good part was having John and Lisa Toli call us over to sit with them and John getting excited over my photos from E. Corinth. The good part was having my good friend Lisa calling and texting me, asking how we did. The good part is the people that I have met through the shows and seeing them be recognized too.

John had us go to look at the new place in Bedford. We toured the house being built by John’s new boss for the Toli’s to live in, and the barn that is in construction for the three horses and four miniature donkeys they will be in charge of. To say that it will be nice is a dramatic understatement. The barn is literally nicer than any house I will ever live in. It’s beautiful in a way that art is beautiful (only a horse person would say that). The owner’s house is up on hill, visible through trees from the barn and from what I could see, could be classified a mansion.

During the tour I learned that the owners started their company and have become very successful. Despite my insane jealousy over all they have, I was happy for them that their hard work paid off. I imagine that the journey to where they are now in life wasn’t easy and that life wasn’t always so comfortable. Their barn, the land, and the horses, are their rewards.

My rewards are simple, really. When I think of Sky and the hard work we’ve done, I think of riding in the heat of summer in New Mexico at Josh’s. I think of the first trail rides in NH when I had to go out alone and feared spooks at everything! I think of the hours practicing what John had given us for “homework”. I think of when she was two and was literally afraid of her own shadow.

My reward is not trophies but really the trail ride I took with Betsy on Saturday - when we were on the road and a tarp flew off a passing truck and she didn’t freak out… and when she bravely stepped over a bridge Harvey wouldn’t… and when she trotted along the trail collected and under control, despite not being ridden for nearly two weeks. Those are rewards for my hard work – ones that will last a long time. My hard work to come with her will pay off when we show w/t/c next year and when we go to EC again and she’ll be even calmer and more experienced.

I might never have a big house or my own barn. There are a lot of things I don’t have, and I’ll admit sometimes it bums me out. However, I will also admit that most of what I do have, I have gotten through hard work and in my book that counts for something.

The rest is just luck and life – a great trainer who believes in us and is willing to stick with us despite all else he has going on, a good husband who is supportive, and a good friend who cares enough to have bad dreams that I left her when I don’t call her back! The luckiest might be the horse who backed off the nastiest trailer at the nastiest stable in all of Texas and has since given me her whole heart and all her best effort.

C