When I sit in my barn and do stalls, I always start thinking about things, as I’m shovelling away. One thing that I always go back to in my head is when I was interning. There are so many things that went on and I wish with some people that I could just have the last word and just say the last thing.
There were things that really bothered me and that were really tough; First of all, working for strangers and secondly, doing hard work in some conditions that weren’t ideal. The last little bit of my trip had conditions that weren’t the best. But I mean, when I think back to the last month, I learned the most. Maybe not necessarily about riding horses or training horses, which really bummed me out, but regardless.. life lessons here.
The one thing I realized is having people that offer you stuff is very valuable. I’m not the person to really ask for a lot of help and ask for people to do things that are going to inconvenience them, in order to help me. I’m just not like that and I feel uncomfortable doing it, so I just don’t usually.
I just take whatever someone’s going to give me or offer me, for what it is.
Example: When I was working and I didn’t have the proper equipment to handle, let’s say the temperature of the area I was in.
I was planning on staying in Oklahoma the whole time, so I brought all summer clothes. Then, I ended up going far North and I was there until the end of October. I only had summer stuff and all of a sudden I’m working in the Northern States where it was going down to zero and I was not equipped for it. Also, I was running out of money. I couldn’t really just go buy new stuff when I knew I had my rubber boots and nice gloves and everything back waiting for me at home.
So I asked for some help. To me, if I had someone working for me that was from a different country, I would have totally just offered them anything they needed! If they need gloves or boots or coat, like 100% take whatever you need. But, that didn’t really happen for me and it was kind of shocking.
The one really good story; So this is where it gets good and this is pure story.
I went to a barrel race by myself and because I didn’t have a truck trailer, I got dropped off. It was about 25 minutes from where I was living and where my horse was at.
I made sure my draw later in the day so I had time to feed all the horses, do all the stalls, which took most of the day and then go into town where the show was, make sure my horse was all good, then go do my run! The one family that I knew were at the race as well. So I asked them if they could take care of Marsh in the morning and make sure she was good and fed all day. So that was nice. Every morning, I didn’t have to go all the way there to just feed Marshmallow, then have to go all the way back to work, work all day and then go back to the race in the evening.
I was really just trusting them that they’re going to help me out and take care of her.
So Sunday rolls around and I didn’t ask the people I was working for to get picked up! They were home already I found out. Then, Sunday evening rolls around. I messaged him, “Hey, so the shows almost over, are you planning on picking up my horse?” I don’t know exactly what I said. I made it sound nicer than that, but I was really expecting him to offer to say, “Oh, when’s your show done? I can come and get your horse” considering I was working for them and they’re the ones that dropped me off in the first place.
And he didn’t offer at all.
So I started panicking because I’m in a different freakin’ country, I don’t really know many people and now all of a sudden I’m supposed to figure out who I can ask to take my horse back. So I messaged the people’s dad that lived on their property as well. I messaged him, seeing if he knew someone that I could take me home. The dad said “well can’t you leave her there for the night?” I’m thinking, ya no, probably not. I’m not gonna leave her there, the show’s over! I’m not going to leave one horse in an abandoned barn, obviously!!
I did find someone but it was the dad that connected me. It was an older lady that has 1 horse and a 3 horse trailer, she was going the same direction and was able to take my horse.
I was very, very thankful for her and I said, thank you a lot! But, the next day it still wasn’t enough. I got talked to about it, “well did you pay her?” he asked me. The look on my face was probably deer in headlights like, “no, that didn’t even cross my mind.” She drove 20 minutes the same direction she had to go anyways. And also, I seriously do not have money to offer!
It’s kind of ironic. There was another thing that went on about me being their responsibility. “So if I’m your responsibility, why didn’t you pay her? Why are you getting mad at me thinking that I should have done it when you’re in that dropped me off at this show? Didn’t pick me up and got mad because I wasn’t thankful enough and didn’t give the girl money to drive me.” This is what I wish I said.
However, it did work out in the end. But that was a big shocker to the reality of what some people are like.
So with that, I think maybe I should put myself out there more and not just assume people are going to be nice people, because they’re not. So, I learned something. It wasn’t about barrel racing but hey, it was about people and some people are just not who you want to be around. If someone doesn’t offer to do something for you, then maybe you don’t want to be around them anyway. That’s kinda what I think. If someone can’t offer something nice and just do it at decency, maybe you need to reevaluate that person.
So that’s what I learned and that’s my story. Hopefully, you can take something from it as well.
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