Shaping me... The U.S.P.C.

The United States Pony Club Championships and Festival celebration is going on in Lexington.  A part of me would give my left leg to be there (Nutmeg doesn’t listen to that leg anyway).

When I was young and free (ha), I attended four Championships and three Festivals plus countless Regional Rallys.  The United States Pony Club is an organization for kids through young adults that focuses on sportsmanship, stewardship, leadership and horsemanship.  Through horses they teach more than riding, they develop character and confidence and teach life skills.  The idea is to give kids the knowledge to make them competent horse people who can stand on their own.  The “Rallys” are structured so that the participants rely on each other instead of their parents to complete tasks.  The barn area is a parent free zone, which means the kids are in charge of feeding, water, and cleaning up after their horses, and to some extent themselves.  Plus they have to manage their time, probably one of the most challenging skills.  There are older “mentors” of sorts who are in the barns to help out, keep an eye on things, and judge the performance of the participants in the barns.

As a kid, it’s awesome!  You can focus on your horse and ignore the parents wanting a recap of your ride or worse yet, giving you a blow-by-blow of the ride.  You get to hang out with your friends and the horses.  Your day consists of getting up, feeding you, feeding the horses, watering, cleaning out the stalls, getting spruced up for jogs, the jog, your ride, cooling out and cleaning up after your ride, cleaning the stalls a few more times, watering some more, feeding in the evening and that’s it.  You might even squeeze in a dip in the pool at some point.  Even when you’re crazy like me and enter two disciplines with two horses, it’s still a relaxed and fun adventure.   

More than time spent with horses, which is always good, for me, Pony Club became the one place I fit in with my peers.  Rallys, Championships, and Festivals are some of my best memories.  I really learned who I was.  Sure, I’m a rule abiding nerd, so it really was the perfect atmosphere for me, but I learned a lot about having fun too.  Pony Club truly helped develop me into the person I am.

To learn more about the incredible organization, check out www.ponyclub.org.  It’s changed a lot since I was working through my ratings and traipsing around the Kentucky Horse Park, but I believe it is still a valuable organization, creating the horsemen and horsewomen of the future.  It’s a Fresh Perspective with a refreshingly traditional approach.

Let's Get Ready to Ramble...

What happens when life gets too busy to spend quality time with your computer?  You feel like rambling on about all the terrific things you were too busy doing to write about.  That being said, this is going to ramble a bit, but I promise I’ll wrap it all up in the end.

Over the past three weeks (four weeks by the time I got this posted), we’ve traveled all over Missouri and all over Azeroth , we’ve had the usual ups and downs as far as the ponies are concerned, and we’ve been reminded of the importance of friendship.

The final Saturday in June dawned with an evacuation of sorts.  At six in the morning we loaded up four trailers full of horses and ponies to make the trek to the Xanadu Horse Show.  I think the total count was thirteen horses and seven riders plus all the associated support crews, but don’t hold me to that number.  It really did look like we were evacuating the farm.  All the packing, organizing, and driving was well worth it.  We came home with everything and everybody we left with, oodles of ribbons, and most importantly grins from ear to ear.  It was the first show off the farm for many of the riders and some of the horses and everyone did a terrific job.  

The following weekend found us packing into a vehicle once again and heading to the Little Niangua to do some canoeing.  Although we weren’t mobilizing thirteen horses, the amount of stuff we crammed into the back of a borrowed SUV could have fooled just about anyone.  We settled on the Little Niangua to avoid the 4^th of July crowds and apart from some, ehm, entertaining company in camp, it was a very relaxing weekend spent with friends and dogs.  Speaking of which, scratch that about relaxing.  Having a Yorkie that does not swim well, even with a life jacket, repeatedly pick the worst possible moments to abandon ship, didn’t make for the most relaxing float, but it was beautiful, private, and we had lots of fun.  We brushed up on our rock skipping, rump bumping, and camp fire cooking skills while sharing stories and of course a few drinks.

For 4^th of July itself, we hid in the man cave away from the sun and the crazy people trying to light the world on fire.  Meanwhile, in a land far, far away located on the WWWW (Wonderful World Wide Web), I reached the “final” milestone in WOW (World of Warcraft).   I say “final” because everyone says you’ll never beat WOW.  Level 85 is the highest level you can achieve, but the game is full of other tasks and challenges to keep you entertained.  Of course you can create multiple characters as well, which is my favorite part.  It’s kind of like paper dolls, only way, way more cool.  I warned you that this would ramble a bit.  The reason I bring up WOW, is that reaching 85 really is a big deal, apparently.  People I haven’t even met in person yet are congratulating me and making me cool stuff, in game of course.  The camaraderie that can form over the WWWW is absolutely amazing, and something I still don’t quite understand.

Bringing me back to reality, last weekend was spent at the State Fairgrounds helping with a fundraiser for Remember to Dream Therapeutic Riding Center.  They help kids and adults with disabilities develop skills to make life a little more enjoyable.  It’s a great program and the fundraiser was a great example of people coming together for a cause.  I don’t know the total number of volunteers, but I think they may have outnumbered the outside attendees.  Never the less, I believe it was a huge success and they’re planning on another Mud Boot Ball next year.  Nutmeg and I performed our Musical Freestyle to "Poker Face" by Lady Gaga and we had fun playing a bit of dress-up to entertain the crowd.  We were joined by several other riders who got in the spirit of the day, making it fun for all.

Then reality really hit me in the face.  My work, work-load about quadrupled in one day.  Last week was absolutely insane, but that’s okay.  You’re supposed to work at work after all.  I manage our website and with all the flooding along the Missouri River we’ve redoubled our efforts at keeping our viewers up-to-date.  We had aerial footage of the flooding to edit (check out the video Here, footage from our Texaco Country Showdown to edit, reports to file, people to teach, meetings to attend, you name it and you probably don’t care, but it helps me make my point which is…..drum roll please…..

Life is crazy, but if you have good people around you the otherwise hair pulling insane schedules we seem bent on keeping in America, become fun.  Being away from home for a horse show for twenty-two hours was worth it, shockingly not because it was a day spent with the ponies, but because it was a day spent with friends.  There’s something about human nature that wants to share.  We develop friendships at work, at the barn, on the internet, where ever we spend time.  You may bemoan the crazy schedule you juggle, but think about all the people you never would have met if you didn’t work, didn’t play, didn’t volunteer.  There’s a Fresh Perspective for you.  The crazier your schedule, the more blessed you are.  Who cares if you go bald by 30?