As final exams and tests explode in house’s everywhere here is a testament to study.

Sunil Bali’s post provided some fodder around the study drills and their impact on our creativity levels.  I thought you might enjoy his enthusiastic take on the beginner’s mind.

 If you went to school in England, the chances are that you’re familiar with the fact that King Harold of England was shot in the eye by an arrow in 1066.

I can safely say that in the 40 years since I learned of Harold’s hapless demise, this fact has been of no use whatsoever.

The saving grace when I was taking my school exams was that whilst I was required to regurgitate countless facts, at least I wasn’t living in today’s age of infobesity, infoxication and information overload ….. drowning in a sea of self-promotion and sound bites.

As we’re growing up, school, society and then often the workplace, educate us out of our creativity.

Paul Linley, the multi-millionaire founder of children’s food company Ella’s kitchen, says that “grown-ups need to grow down” because when we’re born, we’re all creative geniuses and master negotiators, able to capture anyone’s attention.

Unburdened by the would, could and should of adulthood, children look at the world as a playground full of wonder, opportunity and joy.

In the foreword to Linley’s book, Little Wins, Sir Richard Branson says that recapturing the wild eyed enthusiasm, warmth and determination of your toddlerhood – or as Zen calls the Beginner’s Mind – is the path to a successful and fulfilled life.

 Sunil Bali’s great posts can be found at  http://www.sunilbali.com/

Thanks for riding along!

Betty Sue is 46 days into training and starting some low pole work.  Pretty fancy footwork for a youngster, eh?  She was asked and did two lead changes today as well.

Into a Dancer she has grown… Jackson Browne

No horse show is complete without one last look at the horse show photos. A team of photographers has spent the entire show; running from ring to ring, catching rider after rider, and jump after jump, riders in their best clothes, in their best position, for their best hopes of winning.

And part of the Horseshow  tradition is to be inside the trailer where the horse show photos are being exhibited on a computer and picking out your favorites.  While I have personally never had the money to buy all the photos of my horse in a given show I know there are a lot of riders that do. 
Lauren and I pick out one or two maybe three at a really big show and we really gotta love the photo to get it. An individual photo may cost $40 or $50 minimally. So here are our two first pics from the Pin Oak show -this is Lauren Davis and Stanislaus otherwise known as my Lauren and her Ky.  

Thanks as always for riding along.

Lauren headed down our driveway as she made her way over to Nancy’s house. We had determined Nancy had a better location for the photo shoot then we did.

Lauren still dressed in her whites from the horse show classic she did earlier in the day with Snowboy, Kendyll and Jordyn

I swear Lauren has been at a horse show for the last 100 years.  I am very proud of the progress she and Ky have made as they have scampered up through the divisions.  But I  also often feel like the wife whose husband is off traveling to the grand destinations while the wife’s is left at home to cook, clean, mow, and care for the animals.  And the days Lauren shows here in town just complicate things further as I desperately want to be watching her and the rest of the TKO team, but need to be doing my chores, too.

Anyway, what this is all leading up to is that Ally planned for her photographer and friend, Elvia, to come take some pictures of the girls with spring in the air.  Ally and I had talked about using Snowboy as we had used big Bruno for pictures back in 2014.

 Jordyn was about six years old and Kendall had just turned two years old. These pictures ended up being our memories of the last days of Bruno’s life. Our wonderful, brave, strong, stoic, giant thoroughbred would die just days after these pictures were taken. 
And while I was aware of that yesterday, knowing that Snowboy had not been in the best health,  never did it stop me from wanting him to be part of the girl’s pictures. And as things sometimes happen he completely brought his best gameface for  his photo shoot.

Likewise, it didn’t take long for Kendyll and Jordyn to be posing smiling and genuinely enjoying their afternoon.

And what we’re left with after our Sunday at Nancy’s house (she graciously allowed us on her property to take the Snowboy pictures) is a print, a simple snapshot of the moment in time. A moment that would be too quickly replaced by little girls were not so innocent and not so easy to giggle at silly things. Right now, they are happier on the back of the horse than anywhere else.  

Big, big thank you to Elvia for these tremendous pictures. And also to my special, wonderful daughter Ally who just does so much for so many of us so often.  Thank you Ally for the special day in the sun.  
As always, thank you for riding along.