Emily made a very telling observation about our program while a film crew was out last spring. We called for the kids to saddle up about six horses and get ready for some pictures of swamp riding. Kids grabbed horses, got out tack, brushed off any mud that might have accumulated where saddle or girth might go, and mounted up.
They did not spend hours (or even seconds) trying to make their horses look sparkly, shiny, and cute. They put their time on what was real, what mattered--getting their horses ready to be comfortably saddled and ridden in some very rough and wet terrain.
I have no problems with trying to make a horse look beautiful as long as it does not take away any time from making that horse actually be beautiful.
(Incidentally, neither Spicer nor Sea Biscuit spent any time in wardrobe or make up before this shot was taken yet they are about as elegantly beautiful as rare Spanish goats will ever be. There is a lesson there for my little riders that might consider putting on gobs of makeup. If you ever want to look as good as Spicer, put that eye liner down and run, don't walk, away from it.)
I got a graduate degree while working full time. I wanted to spend as much of my pony time riding as possible. I did not trim my pony.
ReplyDeleteAt our first lesson, our instructor was horrified by her beard. I think she said something about my pony looking like a goat, but your goats are nowhere near as hairy as she was. It did not take long for our instructor to learn to appreciate my pony for what she was, not what she looked like.
(She was not a Spanish pony, but a fine pony none-the-less.)