Professional…..

Seems all those end of year ribbons makes her a pro.

Seems all it takes these days to be a “professional” is a horse out in the back yard.  USEF defines anyone who has ever accepted renumeration for lessons, or I dunno, just about anything, as a professional.  Unless you are under 18, then you can give all the lessons you like, charge what you will, and you are still an amateur.  HMMM, I know some of those kids, and let me tell ya, they give some of the pro’s here a big run for their money.

Sponsorships…surely that ought to scream pro….

It’s not about dollars and sense.  HAHA, you like that play on words?  There is no defining line about what makes you a pro in dollars.  What is scarier, is there is no defining line of how much sense you have to have.

Saying goodbye. It makes the job the hardest. IT is what makes living the dream, more like living a nightmare.

Many would consider my daughter and I both to be pro’s.  Me, personally, well, we are still awaiting to arrive.  I can pick horses….usually have a pretty good eye.  My daughter can teach them to jump.  Dressage is still a major work in progress, but by golly, she is darn good on xc.

Not bad for my second breeding.

It’s scary, the people that call themselves “pro’s”.  The kids who just open shop, the owner who shows pics of sale horses being ridden with no helmet.  Stallion owners, with riders in shorts, no helmet, no halter, in a field, sitting there.

What makes a pro?  When will we arrive.  Probably first step for me, not writing my blog.  I think a Pro plays the politics game way better than I do.  I see a need for change, and it’s something I can champion….I am ON IT.

When you are riding and winning on a horse, and the owner yanks a horse, it hurts.

Each horse leaves with a piece of my heart.  Every client horse that leaves, leaves with a piece of our heart.  Every injury, scratch, tug at a halter, tugs at my heart.  I think, being a Pro, you have to get more immune to that…otherwise your heart breaks.

We are still at the stage of, living hay load to hay load.  a few bags one day of grain, and a few bags the next day.  Surely that isn’t Pro like.

We spring out of bed early each day, in anticipation of how a horse does, only to be met with a swollen ankle, hives, a worker who didn’t bother to show…Pro’s, surely that doesn’t happen to them.

We worry about lawsuits, and negligence, and people keeping their word.  We worry about someone getting kicked, a horse getting sick….The pro’s have vets for all that and attorneys on speed dial.  Right…

is this not a beautiful site?

We aren’t living any dream, where a pile of ribbons on the living room floor average over 500.00  a piece easy.  There’s a dream….  Oh, did I mention, most on our money.  Not some major owner.

SHOW SHOW SHOW it’s off to work we must go.

HAHAHA, did I get  you.  Think the Pro’s don’t have all this and more.  Yes. They dont’ always make the bills.  They are the ones who when the workers they pay more than they make don’t show up, that have to fit the chores and their schedule into one day.

What makes a pro?  It all depends on what your needs are.  While I would be wary of the person giving lessons, or letting someone try a horse without a helmet, or stay away from the kid who just opened up shop on Mom’s and Dad’s dime….the rest are a lot of what being a real pro is.

Living a dream?  For about 5:40 minutes, every other saturday, on one horse or another, as you fly xc.  At 6:35 a.m., when you watch the sun rise on a field full of two-year olds who are lying in the sand asleep.  When you get the dressage test back with a 9 for rider.  That happened this last big show….kinda cool.  When a baby is born, and is healthy, out of a shiny, gorgeous mare…..

When your newborn is this cute, and this healthy? Does it make one a pro at breeding.

A pregnant mare,no she isn’t wet, she is well cared for though.

There are a lot of Pro’s out there…with no real definition, other than the fact they make money.   Make sure the one you use, really is a pro.  There are good, and there are bad, there are honest, and there are some not so honest.  Until that day I quit writing my blog, hats off to those of you I consider pro’s….you work the longest, hardest, most difficult hours there can be…..