Lessons from a horse: photo practice...keeping it legal (hopefully)!

Tee hee!!  Thanks to Steve Jurvetson for a great photo and a great laugh this morning!  Many of you know already that I have a slight horse addiction.  Ok, a major horse addiction.  Training horses and training people around horses has given me amazing insights into teaching and has made me a much better teacher!!  Below is a top 10 list of things I learned about teaching from horse-ing around!


10) Getting up early and being the first person at the barn (or at school) helps me ease into the day.
9) I enjoy the ground work more than I enjoy the result. 
8) Spending time on the ground work is not only enjoyable, but is the only way to get the result you want.
7) Racing to the finish line usually ends up in stitches (literally and figuratively).
6) Teamwork can never be underestimated and any two individuals can become a team with the right guidance.
5) Sometimes you have to get dirty to get clean.
4) Daily practice is the only way to earn success.
3) A good rider stays out of their horses' way and lets them shine.  A good teacher does the same with their students.
2) Sometimes you win the biggest when you aren't even in the show!
1) Discipline matters.  I love riding, my riding students have been waiting their whole lives to spend time with their horses.  However, sometimes no one wants to show up and do the work that it takes to ride.  But you do it anyway and it is awesome. Always.

What are some ways that a hobby has helped you be more successful??

The Road Ahead

I found this inspirational this morning! I hope you do too!

The Road Ahead: "Sometimes I think the fates must grin as we denounce them and insist,
The only reason we can’t win is the fates themselves have missed.
Yet, there lives on the ancient claim - we win or lose within ourselves,
The shining trophies on our shelves can never win tomorrow’s game.

So you and I know deeper down there is a chance to win the crown,
But when we fail to give our best, we simply haven’t met the test
Of giving all and saving none until the game is really won.
Of showing what is meant by grit, of fighting on when others quit,

Of playing through not letting up, it’s bearing down that wins the cup.
Of taking it and taking more until we gain the winning score,
Of dreaming there’s a goal ahead, of hoping when our dreams are dead,
Of praying when our hopes have fled. Yet, losing, not afraid to fall,

If bravely we have given all, for who can ask more of a man
than giving all, it seems to me, is not so far from - Victory.
And so the fates are seldom wrong, no matter how they twist and wind,

It’s you and I who make our fates, we open up or close the gates,
On the Road Ahead or the Road Behind."