This weekend marks the first of the 2015 Connecticut Quarter Horse show circuit series. The four day Spring Classic has felt like anything but -spring-… temps in the 30’s at night, 40-50’s during the day. Indeed, we had SNOW for a while on Thursday. Are ya kidding me??….
Anyway…
This weekend, as it turns out, also marks Team KMax’s retirement. K and Max had to move up this year, to a division that brings a higher level of competition. We knew from the get-go that we were probably going to find ourselves out of our league, but K wanted to give it her best shot regardless. In this division, the horses are very specifically bred, bought and trained to perform at a certain industry standard. Max is Old School quarter horse, and not what today’s standards require. He’s not as refined as they like to see in the show pen at the higher levels, and we don’t keep him in constant training at 20 years old to try to get him as close to it as possible. So, there is compromise. After a few days of riding and mulling it over at the show, K came to a difficult but clear decision.
“I think we’re done here, mom. It’s clear we aren’t cut out for this level of competition and I think it’s time to bring Max home and let him retire. I’m really OK with that. I feel like it’s the right thing to do. “
Where is the success in this story? There was no attitude, no aggravation at any point, no sulky behavior or sadness or anger when she came out of class without placing. There WAS a sense of accomplishment for having actually ridden in that level of competition and a peace of mind that comes with discovering the right path and feeling good about it at this point in the journey.
Today I am very proud of my girl.. and happy for Max. After 20 years of the show horse life, he will come home to This Old House and live out his retirement years in comfort and without a heavy workload. It’s a beautiful thing.
