I did get my “horse-related resolutions for 2010” published in January’s Practical Horseman!!! I wrote about my disability and it is right there in black and white. I even got a little colored quote! I’m so happy my letter was selected. Hopefully other equestrians will read it and gain a slight understanding of what we go through every single day.
Here is my quote which I hope we can all try to live by:
“I want 2010 to be the year in which I learn that my best is good enough. I hope to be thrilled with a millimeter of success rather than seekink a mile’s worth.”
I am going to tear out page 11 of PH and frame it. It was so interesting to read the goals of a disabled person compared to those of an able bodied person.
Sorry if this came out as a brag. I just wanted to share and hopefully drag some more of you lurkers out of the woodwork. Heck, I put my name in a magazine.
I want to see this! DressageGeek can you put up a way for us to look?
I didn’t think that Jane Savoie had done anything with the training list, other than accumulating more names for her marketing efforts. Please correct me if I am wrong.
If you’d like to share the whole thing, why don’t you just retype it and post it here?
I got a copy of the mag and recognized your name in that column! Unfortunately, my printer/scanner seems to be fed up with me, as it has gone on strike, so I can’t help either.
I thought your resolution was written very eloquently in the magazine – too bad you aren’t still blogging and sharing that talent more often. :yes:
But … I have to say your post here struck me wrong. If I’m going off on semantics when I shouldn’t be, I apologize in advance, but…
It struck me wrong because you label yours as the goal of a disabled person vs. the others as goals of the able-bodied. Maybe I’m being an overly PC able-bodied person, but I don’t think you do yourself or others justice with that distinction. It implies that you represent the disability community and some other contributor(s) to that column represent the able-bodied community, and that somehow they have different goals.
Being satisified “with a millimeter rather than a mile of progress” isn’t a goal representative of or shared by every person with a disability. More importantly, though, “learning that my best is good enough,” is a lesson that so desperately needs to be learned by soooo many people. So many people, regardless of abilities, are too tough on themselves and mercilessly self-destroy. I hope just a few of them read your resolution and had a lightbulb moment because of it.
Hopefully, the able-bodied folks who read your resolution didn’t make the same distinction you did – “Oh look, there’s a disabled person’s resolution, let me compare it to my own (different goals)” – and instead read it as another rider or person’s goals, hopefully stopping to consider whether it should apply to their own life as well!
So I think I sound like I’m lecturing when what I’m really trying to say is thanks for sharing your insight, and don’t sell yourself short by thinking it only applies to a select group of people!
I just want to clear up a few things. First and foremost, I had no intention of offending any person, disabled or able bodied.
I label my goals as those of a disabled version of ME. I am not attempting to say all disabled people have the same goals, or even goals similar to those I have. A person who is completely able bodied may share similar goals.
Maybe my goals don’t seem lofty enough or you are offended by the fact that I consider my goals to be related to my disability. My disability has shaped me into the person I am, therefore my disability shapes my goals.
Were I an able bodied rider, I would not be interested in being graded as a para-equestrian, nor would I be interested in learning about the dispensations for which I qualify. Those criteria for competing would never enter my mind. When I was in remission and went through quick “flip flops” from relapse to remission, I NEVER considered myself a person eligible for dispensations. It was a different world filled with different goals.
I’m not saying ALL disabled riders want to accomplish what I want to accomplish. Certainly, not all disabled riders have the desire to compete. In stating that I found it interesting to compare a disabled rider’s goals to those of the able bodied riders, I should have used a different statement. I should have said it was interesting to compare MY goals to the goals of the other equestrians who happened to be able bodied and were chosen by PH for the article.
I am definitely not trying to become the poster child for disabled riders. I just thought it was super cool that my letter was selected for the Goals for 2010 article. I just wanted to share. I had zero desire to pigeon hole riders based on their abilities, health, or lifestyle.
I did not re-type my section of the article, as I felt it would be neat to have the entire article. Since nobody seems to have the the article and/or the ability to scan it, I am mailing a copy to DG so she can scan it. We discussed it earlier today.
Thank you for your compliments. They are greatly appreciated. I hope I did not offend anyone. I wrote what I wrote based entirely on my feelings, not based on what I feel disabled people should feel or want.
Thanks B,
I saw the magazine before I saw this thread, and FWIW, I think all that came across in what was published in the magazine. I was commenting on your post here on the board; it just struck me wrong – I guess the abbreviated version made me read a context into it. Thanks for setting me straight.
I hope the other part of my post came through, though: What you said is so true for so many people, not just those with disabilities. I hope your blurb – or even if people just read the pullout (the quote with the asterix) – they pause and think about whether they are beating themselves up or whether they, too, can learn to accept that “my best is good enough.” :yes:
Actually - I agree, NT - believe me, there are times when I think my REAL lesson is to be accepting when it has to be a millimeter instead of a mile, for whatever reason. Not that you set your goals lower - but sometimes the lesson isn’t so much in the doing, but in understanding, and accepting, where you are at that point in time.
Maybe someone else who gets PH can scan it for you so you can post it?
