Sitting here, feeling sorry for myself, because I have a miserable headache, fever, sore throat, I decided to get the bits shiny for this weekend. We are doing an un-recognized horse trial on two of our Greenbeans.
Buffing a shine into a KK is really one of my least favorite jobs. I put it right up there with suffering thru the Flu...so suffering thru the flu AND polishing bits, you get the picture. It does afford one plenty of time o think! After all, how many brain cells can it take to rub on, rub off?
My first thoughts, follow me here, was WHY was I stuck doing this menial chore? Hadn't our working student JUST left? Didn't I just make the decision to help out the economy and HIRE someone? Well, really, it's a schooling show, how important IS one bit of tack? And just for appearances...isn't that just vanity.
I got to wondering, for real, why the working student hadn't stayed on top of it? Why Melissa had to do stalls that truly looked as though someone just took everything and piled it in the middle, and went on about other things.
Lots of time to think leads one to some great insights. Stalls being nasty? I don't have an answer, other then barn help was sick, and she probably did what she thought she could, I got to moving on, thinking about working students. I loved this past student, but I do wonder about the whole thing, and came to this...it wasn't important! Hadn't I just said the same thing. So I asked myself: Why? So back to shining those bits and coming up with an answer.
Missy was a working student for about 3 months with Jon and Jen Holling. She would come home exhausted, dirty, in pain, and smiling. Why? Because her dressage was ever improving, and she was learning....ah ha, first requirement for a working student, wanting to learn! She would be full of info she had garnered from a long day at thier farm, and wonderful stories of who she had met, what she had seen, how easy Jon made dressage. But the one thing she hated, above all else...polishing bits and halters. Everyday, after riding was done, mid-day feeding done, horses rotated, it was time to clean leather, do laundry, and polish bits!
Anyone having ever met Melissa, and shaken her hand, knows ow hard they are. She is embarrassed by it, because they are so hard, but not me! No, I am proud of her, it shows how hard a worker she is! Qualification 2, working student must be a hard worker. But cleaning metals? Hard, hard, hard on the hands! At night, she often had sores on her hands, cracks, and no amount of lotion helps.
I have an answer for you, of why the Holling bunch care, and WHY I care, and WHY it's important! Pride in yourself, pride in your work, AND when you are walking your horse past that random person, who sees that shiney bit, it tells those onlookers, here is a person who CARES how thier horses look, how they feel, and takes pride! Who doesn't overlook the small stuff, who, no matter how sick, or tired, or frustrated they might be, cleans thier stalls, shines thier bits, and gets up and cares....MAYBE I want that person on my horse, I want that trainers opinion! I want that trainer to care about me and my horse! I want to be part of that team.
So, my bits look great now, my bridles sparkling like new. My whites are white, my horses eyes free of dirt. So my daughterand I can be proud! My daughter can be very proud of herself! Because her stalls look amazing, as do her horses! Even with us oth sick as dogs!
