Novel thoughts by Samara

A while ago Holly Grayton asked if I’d write another article for her magazine Alberta Show Jumpers (sorry, no spoiler alerts for that). I have seriously neglected any sort of writing this spring and was struggling to come up with a topic.

Just last week I was in the arena and realized that Holly’s deadline was coming up quite quickly. I asked the ladies who were also in the arena riding if they had any great suggestions. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Lindsay Beadle and her mom Julia recently made the move to Creekside with their business. Lindsay, rather glibly, pipes up and says, “Why don’t you write an article about professionals sharing facilities?” I immediately had to laugh at this, as the thought had already crossed my mind. She follows that up with, “you could call it ‘Novel thoughts by Samara.’” 

So, we have Lindsay to thank for my first blog post in way too long. I did think her answer was slightly too sassy for Holly’s magazine, which just means you’ll have to wait till the next print edition to find out my topic of choice. 

However, she brings up a valid point. Why has it become such a dog eat dog world, where it seems exceedingly difficult to take everyone you meet at face value?

Now, I have not been as deeply entrenched in the horse world for as long as lots of professionals and I was also born and raised in Manitoba, which is vastly different than the competition circuit in Alberta and BC. Maybe I was just completely naive to the true nature of the horse world growing up, but I’d like to hope that I genuinely just wanted to trust people until they lost the privilege. 

It is a question worth pondering though. When did this industry become so ruthless? Or was it always this way and now, with technology becoming so prevalent in how we run businesses, it’s just harder to hide that dark side of it? Or is it mostly that people just genuinely don’t care about being decent and honest anymore?

I did’t intend for that to sound as harsh as it does. But I think, if you ask yourself, you’ll probably have several examples of tough situations where people were underhanded and untruthful. Whether it be with clients, horse sales, trainers, etc., I think everyone can say they’ve experienced this at some point. 

So, I guess my novel thought of the day is a cliche one, but why can’t we all just get along? This industry is hard enough. And maybe that’s the root of the issue. Hard situations can make people hard. Please don’t let this industry suck the decency out of you. We all started riding and competing for the love of the sport. If we could all return there and remember there is actually more that unites us than separates us, maybe, just maybe, we all may have a little more respect for each other. 

Until that happens, Lindsay and I will gladly sit down and play cards with you if you stop by Creekside. I have two decks in my locker and there’s likely snacks hiding somewhere.