Can anyone say Olympics? How about Dressage? Piaffe? What I was about to embark on was way more than I bargained for. At the very least I learned an entirely new language!
I had never heard of the word Dressage until taking lessons from a woman by the name of Linda, she would say in my lesson, “in Dressage they do this”! After a few times of hearing that, I asked, “what is Dressage”? You see I had ridden my whole life without ever receiving a “lesson”! I started teaching when I was a kid. Parents would come up to me and ask me to teach their child to do what I did. I thought hmm, I don’t know what I do?! I just ride, which is why I knew, I needed to know what I was doing, in order to do it better and duplicate it. This started me taking lessons! Next came Dressage, and when I found Dressage, (training of the horse), I knew I had landed on the solid ground by which I would pursue!
I pasted a live performance of Dressage at an international level so you can witness this breathtaking sport! O.k. enough about Dressage, back to The Art of Serving! As I said in The Art of Serving (part 2), I went to apprentice under the F.E.I. level rider, trainer, Sue Ashley. She lives in a modest home, on a modest horse farm, but her riding abilities and teaching were anything but modest.
I remember the first day that I went to work for my $2.00 per hour dream job, I was handed a pitch fork and told, welcome to becoming a trainer!! As Sue and Andrea (barn manager) walked away giggling, I thought I will do whatever it takes to be what I am supposed to be. I loved to clean stalls, I had done it many times and now I GET to do it on a Dressage Horse Farm. YIPEE!!!
It was very different though from working with Zina, Sue and I were much closer in age, I was now married with one son, Derek. I could not devote my whole life to one thing, I had to diversify. I had to pull out of Sue, information, where Zina was throwing it at me, Sue kept it inside. I had to pull, pull and pull, but little by little doors began to open.
I remember the first time we went to an Instructor’s Seminar at Violet Hopkin’s farm. The cast of teachers were Olympic riders, coaches and trainers. I thought WOW, dressage is SERIOUS stuff! I went where ever Sue went. I photographed her and got special invitations to go places the paying students didn’t get. Back then in order to even ride in a clinic, you had to be recommended by an recognized trainer. Sue was recognized and I was recommended.
I got to ride horses all day and she gave me students to teach. I was allowed to watch all the video’s she had and ask questions at will. I was told I had to ride every day, show at every show and ride in every clinic in order to get a name in this business. I did what I was told to do, and little by little favor came upon me and my clients began to love me. International instructors started inviting me to their farm in other countries. In very little time, I was on the fast track of a sport that most people never get to enter. Most people make little bitty compromises that cost them everything. Like anything worth doing, you might as well do it well.
Everywhere we went Sue was admired as the best rider there. She had worked hard, was made fun of, but put in the time and effort that it took to become! She was the perfect example of rags to riches in riding that you could ask for. She was perfect for me, although I may have found favor with her for a season…my lessons were grueling. I was pushed harder than anyone and I loved it. I only wanted the most of every lesson, this was not a past time for me, it was a passion, a pursuit of becoming. The time of favor was about to end.
One day while we were working young horses, she asked me to ride a young (INSANE) colt. I knew I should not get on but Sue insisted. I didn’t even get all the way on and I was flying through the air. I landed on my wrist and broke my elbow. The days of being an assistant came crashing down around me. Sue asked if I could lunge horses with one arm, I said, “no”! The favor was over and unlike with Zina, Sue moved ahead rapidly, looking for someone to take my place. She had a barn full of horses that need to be worked, she had to find someone else. The farm was too small for a lot of help so when I was down…I was out.
What I had experienced gave me a perspective I needed. I learned I could do anything. I learned that what Zina had told me was true. I would like to add to her perspective though, from my perspective. I not only had to find someone, I had to know what to look for and be willing to avail all that I was to get there. This lesson will bring me to the next story on the Art of Serving!
It was time for a new season in my life, the best season that I was ever in, until now. In the next story I will close this one out for a season and reveal stories from the bible that took me through the toughest years of serving that I have ever gone through..It is vital to serve…it is even more vital to serve well! Wait before we go I will finish the story about not be liked!
One day I had a conversation with Sue about how I had learned in doing hair that if you do well you will not be liked. She said, “Michelle I am sure you won’t be liked, you are a very good rider and as you get better and do better, some people won’t like you”! They will be jealous that you can do something they can’t. Hmm, I had never heard that before, I had a new perspective, the goal is not to be liked. The goal is to do well without the applause of others! I will always be grateful to what she said, in and out of the arena! Thanks to Sue, I miss her and want her to do more than she ever thought she could…I would not understand REAL dressage without her! She blessed me so much, and I am grateful always!
Give Life! 