You never know with race horse breeders whether they really
care about their animals or not, but I always got the impression that this lady
truly did. Deep in my heart I knew she’d
appreciate hearing how Admiral was doing.
Still as the beep on her answering machine sounded, the butterflies in
my stomach started doing loop-de-loops.
Would she be happy for Admiral?
Would she approve of him now?
Would she even remember us and return our call? And most of all, why do I care?
"I Dare you to not LOVE me!" |
When I originally left the message, my nerves got the best
of me and I told her Admiral would be in Kansas City showing last weekend. When she questioned me on it and discovered
she could quite possibly come visit him at the show this weekend, I think it made
both our days. She was thrilled and
subsequently, so am I.
I wish we were better prepared. I wish I could show her what he’s really
capable of. But I know that it’s going
to be enough for her to see him happy, healthy, and smothered in love. Admiral’s always in his element at a show. He thinks all the adoring fans are there just
for him and this lady will be. She’s
coming just to see him. I hope he feels
have as special as I do right now.
Pondering the future. |
I needed a Fresh Perspective on Pride. Is it always a bad thing? I turned to the handy-dandy thesaurus. Turns out Pride can go one of three ways. First, arrogance as in conceit, smugness, egotism, vanity and superiority. I think that’s the pride we think of most often and that’s the pride I’m trying to avoid. There are times when I’m tempted to play the comparison game, but horses are so good at stomping all over that kind of pride. It’s nice (really, it is) that they routinely remind me of my place.
Then there is self-respect pride as in dignity and honor. Self-respect is important. It’s also important to respect others. Again, I think horses are really good at
teaching respect. You just have to
respect a thousand plus pound animal.
Plus spend some time gazing into a horse’s eye. It’s a pool of dignity and honor. Some of that is sure to rub off on anyone who
is aware of it.
Finally, there is the self-satisfaction pride. Pleasure, delight, gratification, enjoyment,
happiness. Yep, that’s the pride I find
in caring for my horses and that’s what I want to find in all my work. I guess pride really was the right word. When I hung up the phone, I was beaming with
pride and she hasn’t even seen him yet.
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