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Saturday, November 2, 2013

Not All Change Is Bad, Although Nearly All Of It Is



I am in the process of donating the horse operation to our new nonprofit, Gwaltney Frontier Farm, Inc. Such legal paper work changes rightfully cause concern among people who care about our program. For the last twenty years big companies have been swallowing up smaller companies and nothing good has come of it except to line the pockets of a handful of rich people. With that as a back drop it is easy to understand why people that do not understand the need for the conversion to a nonprofit are concerned.

Do not worry. The integrity of our program will remain intact. We will continue to do what we do. We will not be taking any steps to attract Mrs. Drysdale to the horse lot. Ellie Mae and Jed will still be happy with us.

Compromise--one of the most significant and dangerous words in our language. Some compromise is necessary to get anything done yet every step of every compromise is a threat to one's integrity. It is a question that I have wrestled with since I was a little child. I realized early on that if I wore a coat simply because some adult thought that I should, whether I was cold or not, I was taking a huge leap into following the dictates of an irrational, absurd culture.

Not all slopes are slippery, but many are. Hubert Humphrey said that the problem with politics is that one had to constantly compromise on the small issues in order to eventually win issues that mattered. The catch, he said, was to always be able to recognize which issues were big and which were small.

Steve Earle gets a bit passionate when he speaks of Townes Van Zandt "shooting himself in the foot" every time he had a chance for real commercial success. He feels that Townes let people down by pursuing a course that did not get his music out in front of more people.

It is hard to argue with that point. But would it have been better to have become part of the glitzy nothingness of the Nashville sound than to simply be drunk (and ultimately dead)? I cannot say which choice I would have made with any degree of certainly. However, it is much easier for me to imagine being drunk and dead (though I do not drink at all) than to sing painfully frivolous songs whose meaningless lyrics would be adored by screaming fans with meaningless lives.

I have nearly nothing in common with the man that I understand Woody Guthrie to have been. However, given the choice of money and a degree of fame in exchange for having people tell me which songs I was allowed to perform, or walking away from it all; I suspect that I would have been on train getting out of New York as fast as he did.

I have never been under any illusion that I am always right, but I have clearly understood that I am always me.

If I take any step that causes the established horse world to feel better about mustangs then I would have let the horses down. If I take any step in my riding program to garner the approval of the established horse world then I would have let my riders down.

So those of you that are worried that changes will come about that will make us into anything more conventional than we are now. Stop worrying.

All of my life I have had no fear of being tested. That is because the only tests that I have ever cared about have been self graded.

(That is not a picture of Mrs. Drysdale riding Young Joseph.)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Commercial success has long been the hall mark of the American Dream...yeah, not so much. How much have we sacrificed as a nation in pursuit of the almighty dollar.
No, there are much more important things in life, such as seeing young Chris' wide smile yesterday after a long ride. Or seeing a little rider advance in skill and confidence through applying focus, thought and effort in training a horse, these are gems without price, which shine brighter than any diamond. I do so wish for such opportunities for all our youth, heck, all our people...It sure seems like our country is a whole lot more concerned with the quarterly bottom line than investing in the single most valuable resource we have, our people, particularly our youth.

Off topic? No, not really, this change is a significant investment in that future, It is my fervent hope that Mill Swamp Indian Horses continues as it is for generations to come. It is critical for the horses, critical for the little riders, and critical to our society. Is that an overstatement? Not so much. Consider the effect that our young folks can have on society at large, they have learned and grown with these horses, and whether or not they stay close to the Corollas, or drift away from horses altogether, they have learned and grown mentally, spiritually and physically right along with these mighty little horses, and they will take that humanity out into the world, each one a force multiplier, and example of a simple and good way to live that need not be worn on the sleeve, nor shouted from the rooftops (says me, with my big mouth) but can be worn with quiet dignity, a shining example for everyone around them.
Especially young people.

This country, and this world needs more Mayberry (Mill Swamp) and a whole lot less Hollywood.

This is a good change. To grow is to change, the trick is, to grow well, in the right direction at the right time. Don't take my word for it, though, Go out and ask Peter Maxwell, and Katalina, they are growing well, and in the right directions. -Lloyd