We taught 58 riding lessons on Friday Night. We taught and taught and taught. MajORR FUN NIGHT is the best experience for myself and Evan. I have come to grips with this season in my life. I cannot teach all the beginner lessons, manage High Caliber Stables, train all the horses, and try to wrangle two small children. It is important for me to be a part of ALL of our riding program and MajORR FUN is our opportunity to teach, work with our instructors, and get to know our riders that we do not get to see on a regular basis. I am definitely tired at the end of the night but even Evan said it is such a great feeling to work with our riders as they progress.
Our last lessons of the night were our Performance Riders. We rode hard and at the end of the lessons as our riders horses were cooling out I asked them a few questions. I asked them if they remember a world without cell phones and I asked them about what came to their minds when they start research for a paper. We have riders of all ages so there were a few answers like encyclopedia for research and they don't always remember having a cell phone. As you read this I bet you are thinking I am going to go off on the "new" world or the millennials. I know as I finished asking questions I could tell most of the younger riders were ready for the lecture, they were wrong and quite frankly surprised at the "Mary" talk that was about to be had.
After asking questions, I started to talk about the best thing about horses. You see the best thing about horses is they are timeless. There is no short cut to getting better, you just have to work hard all of the time. There is no easy way to learn, you just have go out and experience the riding. There are good days and bad days and often with horses you don't know until you get off what kind of day you had. The best thing about horses is they keep us honest. You can try to cheat but in some form or fashion it will come back to you. There is a better horse to buy but the beauty of horses is no matter how nice they horse you still have to ride it. Horses are not the next best cell phone and they care less about social media. They are living breathing, big, opinionated personalities that on any given day they might change their mind on how they feel and you will have to work with what you have!
My riders sat there and looked at me and laughed and even looked a little puzzled at times but as they walked out their steamy horses they could not help but agree with how wonderful horses are on all levels. I never disagree with any parent that talks about how expensive riding horses are, but I can't help but remind them it is the best money you will ever spend when you want your child to work hard, sweat, cry, argue, keep trying, give up, try again and learn what it is like to struggle with people and horses as they learn the best life lessons necessary to navigate growing up. Don't forget the car ride's to the barn happy, the ride home from the barn in tears and just ride to the barn talking with your children with no phone in sight. They deal is you have something in common. Something you can discuss that you can just "be" with your kids in a world where one on one and actual conversation is constantly changing and challenging..
Horses are the Best! They keep it simple in a complex way but no matter how the world changes they are there needing to be fed, watered and stall cleaned. They are there to nuzzle and love -and even yell at when they do the exact opposite of what you ask them to do. Horses are the best. I know they make me better!
Have A Great Week.