When is pride a good thing and when is a thing?  Isn’t being proud of something good?  Does pride really come before a fall?   Can pride hold us back?  Keep us from seeing the truth about ourselves?   I think it sure can.   I can always draw a parallel between my real life and my horse life.   I am faced with a time dilemma.  I no longer have time to travel 3 hours one way for a reining lesson.  I no longer have time to give up one whole day away from my office and family to take riding lessons.   I don’t want to put my horses in training.    BUT I love reining.  I am a reiner.  I ride reiners.   It’s who I am and what I do!    My horse life has been reining for 20 + years. So what do I do if I can’t train with a trainer?  Do I change disciplines?  Who will I be then?     If I want to do something in the competitive arena, I will have to do just that.  My reiner life and my regular life are at an impasse.  I can’t pull off the hours of riding, training and traveling that it requires to stay competitive or even justify the expense of an NRHA show.   I have been there and done that and I know what it takes to play the game at that level.

This is were the bad pride comes in.   I am proud of what I know, what I have done and the level of riding I have achieved.   I hate the idea of starting over in another equine sport.   Letting go of what I have been and what I am good at to be the beginner, the rookie.  It’s PRIDE and it’s not the good kind.     If God wanted me to continue in reining,  He would keep that door open for me.   It seems like that door swings open for a time then swings shut again!    Distance, time and soundness issues seem to keep me stuck here just spinning my wheels going no were for the past 2 years.   As my good friend Molly pointed out……I am trying to put a square peg in a round hole.  I just cant make this fit into my life anymore.

Now enter in last Thursday and Friday.   I took both girls up to work cattle for the first time.   Both my horses had a ball.   Holly, my finished reiner was like she was missile locked on the cow!   I have never seen her be that intense on anything!   The trainer on her back was grinning from ear to ear.     She worked cow after cow and it seems as if that is her true calling.  When we were done, her eye was soft, she wasn’t spooky or stupid.   It was like giving her a tranquilizer.  She was so content!

Lucy was just as good.  She too loved working cows and took right to it AND I had a ball doing it on both mares.      The trainer said I could have Lucy going good enough on cows to be able to show her in the ranch cutting by March.   Holly on the other hand would need a professional to channel all that intense cow sense she has.    Is this God opening a door?   Maybe God is showing me that the season of reining in my horse life is over and it’s time to begin a new chapter.    I think it’s time to pray about this one, leave my pride behind and be willing to look goofy, make mistakes and be the BEGINNER!   What the heck.  At least my horses may really enjoy their work and might stay sound.  I might really love it!

Here’s what I know:   When I am doing reining, with my reiner friends…I love it and think “yes!  this is what I want to do!”

When I take my dressage lessons with Jane, I love that too and think this is tons of fun and maybe I could do english with Lucy. She seems really happy.

When I was at Dylans working cows all day, I really loved that and so did my horses and thought “yes!  this is it what I should be doing with my horses!”

I guess the bottom line is that it’s just about enjoying what we are doing and having fun.    It’s not about being on the latest name brand bred horse or all those other things that we as competitive horsemen measure ourselves against each other with.   Fancy breeding, stud fees, high prices, earnings or what level you show at, were you have been or were you are going to show next.

We go back to the vet tomorrow.  Recheck Lucy’s knee and Holly’s feet and pelvis.  I’ll run it by him and see if he thinks it would be a better option for them physically.  (I know it is mentally)    If he gives us the go ahead, I have a lesson scheduled right after our appt to work cattle with Dylan at the Wright Ranch.

Here’s to a new year of learning a new discipline,  staying away from pride and moving in a new direction with my mares. Hoping this is the square peg that fits into this square woman’s life.   Here’s hoping for balance, humility and learning a new horse sport!

Thanks for reading and if anyone has been down this road, please share your story with me

God Bless you, Carla, Holly and Lucy

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