[QUOTE=Couture TB;6810844]
OP:
My parents were poor. Yes, we were actually POOR. A family of 4 living on $25K a year. We free leased a barn down the road that we cleaned up and turned into a 6 stall barn and built xc jumps out of fallen trees, and our stadium jumps out of scrap. My father taught the local PC kids and everything we had we worked our butts off for. People would drop off problem horses or we would buy $100 horses from the auction or word of mouth. I was lucky in that my father could teach me to ride and jump. But our horses were not fancy or heck even safe at the start. BUT in a year or less we would have those horses and ponies jumping around 3’+ courses for XC and jumpers and off they would go. Not for much, but enough that we could get a couple more at times and go to a few shows a year. Really it is not that hard to get a horse jumping around a 3’ course of jumps.
We had nothing other then the horses. Now I didn’t know we were poor, we had what we needed in our eyes.
When I was 15 I left and did my first working student position as there was no way my family could afford to have me be able to take lessons from a BNT. I worked my butt off! 7 days a week. From 5am to 10pm. I learned a ton. I mucked. I groomed. It was grunt work and I learned more in those 5 months then I could have in years. I then was lucky to sell a horse for a larger sum then we could have ever dreamed of , $18k. I was lucky in that my father let me stick all of that money into a made horse that due to the US dollar being stronger then CN at the time I was able to afford. I was 17 at the time. I stayed in Canada to be a WS for the owner.
I came back home to compete and was lucky to have my grandparents to help pay for shows. I was at that time working from 5am to 7pm training , teaching, and doing chores. I would then go work as a waitress at night.
I eventually was a trainer at a few different places. Still grooming, teaching, training, mucking etc.
Got injured. Got injured again. Got sick. Had to quit for 6 years. Built up a small buissness again. Now will be laid up for 8 weeks due to another surgery. Luckily am married and have my DH behind me all the way.
And guess what? I may have paid my dues, done the hard work, competed heavy, resold well trained horses, BUT due to time off I am going to be having to pay my dues again since I have been out of the scene for to many years.
So no matter what you are going to be grooming, busting your butt, and not always riding no matter what.
If one of my students said they could groom at WEF and their parents were going to let them I would tell them to get off their butt and DO IT! Not only would they learn valuable tools for horse care but chances are they probably could have found a way to take lessons while they were down there too.[/QUOTE]
I agree 100%. I think for a while I thought that it was all about the riding. But I am beginning to see that it is so important to learn every part of the industry. Your story is inspiring, and I admire you for that. My family has no money either, I work at my current barn to pay off board for my horse. If I had an opportunity at WEF to groom, I would take it too! Heck ya!
