Job Interview

December is running out fast and there are quite a few things I still have in mind to write about but first a quick update on the current events.

At the end of November I applied for a job at one of the top agricultural colleges in the South East. It was an Equine Lecturer position, a great sounding post, part-time and a one year contract which would suit me as I could continue running the Academy. I don't have any college teaching experience which was mentioned as a desirable on application but I thought I would give it a go. There was a mention that short-listed candidates will be invited for an interview but I hadn't heard from them for almost 2 weeks so I assumed they had some more suitable people applying.

On the 10th of December we went off to Poland and when we returned home after midnight on the 14th (so I guess the 15th technically;) and I could finally check my phone messages, there was one from the college asking me if I could confirm my attendance at the interview. I looked through our post from the last few days and found a letter from the college saying they would like to invite me for the interview. Great.

The date of the interview was the 14th, 3.30pm.

I've been trying to contact them ever since to apologize and explain but the person dealing with the applications never seem to be there and didn't reply to my email or answer phone messages. I do feel awful for not making it but even if I wasn't away it would have been really difficult to arrange for a day off a couple of days before they needed me there. I can only guess the weather has delayed the post which is why I only received it in the last minute.

Not really sure whether to continue trying to get in touch or assume they have already recruited someone?

Photo: Just in case you weren't sure it's Xmas time...Decorations on one of the Notting Hill's pubs tonight. Only thin cover of snow but black ice everywhere :-/

As I'm sure all horse people know the work is below bad right now. As I write I had another cancellation for tomorrow. I will leave my thoughts on this for the year in review post in a couple of weeks.

Amazing and Less Amazing Times

I wish I could tell you all is going amazing and I am off for a little well-deserved holiday but if you've been reading this blog for a while you would know that of course that would be highly unlikely ;)

Instead, it's like pushing that big rock up a hill...every now and then you make a progress, then you slide a few meters down. And you start again.

One of the centres I teach at had to temporarily close for business due to illness of the majority of the horses. It's a very sad situation both for the horses and for everybody whose livelihood depends on that business. It is, however, necessary and responsible to cease any activities that might spread the illness elsewhere.

This means that from a struggling riding instructor I am now an immensely struggling riding instructor! It's a very hard to deal with side of self-employment in the Equine industry. What keeps me going is that every so often, on the way to that damn top of the hill I find that there is some fun to the rock pushing.

I like to have a plan, even if one to follow loosely but to be able to execute such plans we all need that minimal control over our environment.

Well, not here. Here we have a balancing on a tight rope act every day. There is something about people liking to live on the edge, right? Right?.... ....

Recently, I find myself thinking of giving in, grabbing a job that pays the bills, my food, holiday and a horse to ride and enjoy. Then I wake up and can't bare the thought of locking myself in four walls and giving up what I've worked so hard for.

The situations like this one proves to all self-employed instructors out there that we should look at our jobs as a business first. If you are anything like me you will consider many other things your priority - the horses welfare, the enjoyment of the riders you teach, the improvement of the horses and of the riders, pleasure of being with horses etc etc Business comes a very inconvenient last with all its paperwork, financial planning and an array of boring tasks you have to undertake in order to stay on track with all the income/outcome/profit/ loss malarkey.

The answer to my struggle is quite simple - I have to look at this job as a business first, the rest very close second. This is not enjoyable though. It feels like work!

Tough, I can hear you say. And you're right.

Business it is then.

As scary as it is I have arranged for someone to help me deal with the promotional side of the Academy project. The world of press releases and media relations is one I'd rather not venture into by myself.

My search for a yard base in & near London has brought an opportunity which might work a treat or might not work at all - I will find out on Friday. If it does I shall have a very jolly post for you!

The Academy Bloggers

I must introduce you to several fabulous bloggers who guest blog on the Academy Blog. It all started with just a couple of them but has since grew and there is more to come. I love the fact the word about their experiences can be spread for free and the feedback I received so far suggests many riders enjoy reading the posts.

Here we go then, new Guest Bloggers, more introductions to come next time or you can check them all by yourself on Academy's Blog.

Chloe Ammonds-Nutt - passionate eventer with full-time job

Hello I’m Chloe,I work 8.30am – 5pm all week but as soon as the clock strikes 5 I’m out the door, hair up, breeches on and in the car en route to the yard. I grew up around horses as my mother always rode, I was even named after a particularly good sjing mare that she used to own. I always thank my lucky stars I didn’t end up getting called Starlight or Merrylegs!I had the usual horsey childhood upbringing lead rein to pony club, and from pony club to school teams then onto riding club activities. I haven’t been hugely blessed with well bred or talented horses so have had to adapt my passion for competing to whatever sphere they were strongest in. This has in some ways been very beneficial because I have been able to experience polo, polo-crosse, showjumping, dressage, xc, carriage driving, gykhana games, and even a bit of the dreaded showing, but my heart lies with eventing.

Chloe's posts: http://www.aspire-equestrian.com/blog/guest-blogger-chloe-ammonds-nutt/

Cassidy Sitton of C-Horse Eventing - another eventer with two jobs, one being a non-horsey one

"As a third generation equestrian, I’d like to think the horses are in my blood. I grew up in the saddle and began formal lessons at age 4 near my hometown of Cobden, Illinois (United States). The first barn I was involved with was an Arabian facility, focusing on Hunter/Jumpers. I didn’t have an Arab, so I just plugged along in the world of hunter/jumpers on my own.The first barn I was involved with was an arabian facility, focusing on Hunter/Jumpers. I didn’t have an Arab, so I just plugged along in the world of hunter/jumpers on my own. In order to compete, my family had to make adjustments and sacrifices, and I had to prove my commitment to the sport. From early on, I gained a strong education in the basics of horsemanship and learned early on my passion was working with green and troubled horses.

At thirteen, I grew tired of the controlled environment of the Hunter Jumper world and fell in love with the thrill of eventing. I joined her local United States Pony Club chapter, and quickly progressed through the levels, achieving my H-A rating at 16 (the youngest age allowed to attempt the rating)." Read Cassidy's full bio on HERE.

Cassidy's Blog on: http://www.aspire-equestrian.com/blog/category/guest-blogger-cassidy-sitton/

Judi Daly - you will like her posts, it's all about enjoying the horses! Judi wrote a couple of books on trail riding and has plenty of useful tips for you too.

"My name is Judi Daly, and I live in Cleveland, OH USA. In the world of horses, I’m just anordinary person. I don’t compete, I don’t work in the horse world, I don’t even have my horses onmy own property. Rather, I work a full-time job and board out my two horses. My budget is slim.I don’t even have a horse trailer.I am an avid trail rider, though, often riding over 1,000 miles a year.Our trails are in the suburbs of a large city—some of the most rugged riding you will ever find. We have to deal with planes, trains and automobiles as well as trucks and motorcycles. We share our trails with hikers, joggers, dog walkers, bicycles, baby strollers, fishermen, cross country skiers andwhatever else you may come across in a very populated area. That doesn’t even account for theweather and the wildlife! I like to ride on rainy days because it is the only time it is peaceful andquiet on the trails.I ride both my horses five times a week in all weather. I do keep my horses at a stable with anindoor arena, and that helps in the bad weather and dark winter evenings, but it still gets prettycold. Most winter days in Cleveland are well below freezing.In the winter, I work on the forever unattainable goal of the perfectly trained horse with theperfectly skilled rider." More on HERE

Judi's Blog posts: http://www.aspire-equestrian.com/blog/category/guest-blogger-judi-daly/

Everything has so many details and then some more!

Pic. left: The high street in Rochester on Tuesday morning.

Trying to fit in a few lives into one is a tiring affair and I'm looking forward to a proper rest at some hopefully not too distant future. The week just gone was very productive and thankfully there is a lot of things that have been pushed on. However, there is still plenty to be done for the Academy's website to go live. It's almost as if when one aspect is completed another ten pops up!
I will be relieved when everything is online in a more or less correct order. One of the things I still have outstanding is a short video on Academy's services. Due to the complexity of the offer I thought it would be good to give the riders a visual overview of what the Academy is about but I do have to question my sanity - there is just so much to it and it seems like it's so easy to make it look totally rubbish!
Even more so, the devil is in the details. I thought everything was looking and reading OK only to re-read the content already on the site and finding a multitude of annoying issues/wording/placement that needs correcting. On top of that there are the images that have to vaguely illustrate or complement the text and making sure nothing sounds too complicated...dare I continue...

As I seem to be adding some movie making basics into my skills tool box I thought it would be wise to acquire a good video camera. Getting someone else to film would just be too costly so it seemed like a good option to go for. I didn't realise, however, that the camcorder had no memory card included (well, the sales person insisted it did!) so now have to add that to the shopping list too.
All these details you see.

The tactical-logistical steps are thankfully going forwards too. On Tuesday I travelled to Kent to meet Anna Trinder, an instructor whom I've involved with Academy. I always prefer to sit with people and discuss everything over a cup of coffee than to bounce multiple emails to and fro but it's difficult to fit such meetings into my very busy week schedule. I had to cancel some of my teaching to be able to see Anna but it was definitely worth it!
We caught up on all the issues connected with the launch of the Academy, the possible pluses and minuses of different running options as well as trying to price the services!
It's all great having an idea but for it to move from a volatile state to any kind of tangible stature is a damn hard work and many hours of fiddling about with things you wouldn't think existed in the first place.

Fot.: Anna and Finn pressure-posing in a Cafe in Rochester

On Wednesday I rode Casper in the morning and we went for a long hack. He was on his toes and and tense for good half of the time but relaxed towards the end. He can now do at least an hour of walk out hacking and is getting fitter. I schooled him on Monday focusing mainly on long and low work and getting him to relax his back and more importantly, his mind. I had a short lesson with Craig so I knew how to ride Casper to keep him calm. I am very much new to this ex-race horse training and it's fascinating how much different riding one is to simply schooling a young warmblood. There is just so much sensitivity and tension in Casper, his mind has hundreds of wave lengths and if you are either with him 100% or you're not at all. No compromise. I think I know what feel I need to get now and how to get there but to make it consistent I need to learn to totally relax and not allow myself to pick up any of the tension I feel in him. Wednesday afternoon and evening I ran my Intensive Training Day for one of my new riders from Surrey. The rider has only had 11 lessons so far so is very much a beginner but we had a great time. It proves to me time and time again that the level of the rider doesn't really matter, it's the attitude and desire to learn that makes the teaching of riding to like minded people such a superb job.

On Thursday, among some other regular lessons, I taught one of the riders I am Case Studying for the Academy and who also is a member of the Academy's team :) Susanna Malkakorpi does Equine Body Work (http://www.susannashorsetherapy.com/) and will look after the muscles of all the horses on Academy's Training Programmes as and when required by the owners. Susanna is a very inquisitive rider herself and a pleasure to teach. She is having lunge lessons with me to re-train her seat and get rid of some bad habits like back stiffness and hip locking that crept into her riding due to years of hacking on a buckle :)
She is doing a great job and is discovering some more tools in her seat to improve the horse she rides and schools on regular basis.

Fot: Susanna having lunge lesson with me on April at Hall-Place Equestrian Centre. She keeps her heels up a little here as her "natural" preferred way or riding is to push the heels down, lock the ankle and knee joint and settle in a "chair seat". Keeping her ankles relaxed and mobile as well as experimenting with the foot position allow her to think more about absorbing the movement of the horse through her pelvis. It's all work in progress and once she can keep mobile in the hip joints she will be able to keep her heels consistently lower too. Another habit of hers is the locking of the elbows and arms but we are taking it one step at the time :)

Today I spent the morning with Jen of http://www.jennyrudallhorseriding.com/, another instructor involved with the Academy and we tried to put together some promotional plan as well as catch up on the overall progress. Very productive meeting with some good ideas generated, some just operational boring stuff but also some very exciting ones so I hope we will manage to go ahead with them!
Then onto a 12pm train to work at Cane End. I rode Casper first thing and although agitated at the start he settled much quicker in the arena. I schooled him in walk and a little trot, again just long and low and if not the flies that irritated him immensely I think he would have gone well. Then off we went for a 40min walk in the woods and he was so much more chilled than last time. I'm getting used to him now and let him stride out on a long rein. He spooks at some most peculiar things like sticks on the ground or a leaf and the likes but is otherwise very easy. My plan is to ride Casper 4 times a week and so far I managed to coordinate everything to suit this schedule :) Happy me.
Cane End is my slow-down-time with no mad rushing around which makes a nice change to other days of the week. I do the more boring yard jobs listening to Horse Radio Network's podcasts which has proven to be a miracle cure of my tedious commute too!

As I've spent the last several weeks working so much I am close to burn out, today is my down time, so a long bubble bath and a book and no 'work thinking and planning' at all!!

Riding Casper in the morning tomorrow then doing Assessment Day for another Case Study rider for the rest of the day.

Organising It All

Pic.: Exercising full liveries today. My lovely animal is trying to eat my leg ;)

Many people struggle with an idea for life thinking everything would be easier if they only knew what they wanted to do; but even if you do have one it's not all plain sailing. In fact, the true challenge barely starts.

I'm pretty much set on having a go at trying to balance it all...The Academy, the teaching, the riding and the training. There just must be a way to do it. There are several major issues on the way to make this option viable which is why it will be realised very much on a step by step basis. Severe multi-tasking is not my favourite way of action but it might need to be called for now and then in the coming months.

The first thing on the agenda for now is to run the Case Studies for each of the Academy's programmes. Several riders are already booked in for their sessions where they will be videos and photographed and the footage will be put on the Academy's website once completed.

So basically - we are officially on the road!

The idea being that the footage will help other riders to picture what the Academy is about and whether and how we can help. The riders come from varied backgrounds and range from regular riding school riders to competition riders so hopefully their experiences will form an interesting and educational resources for all levels.
I do want the Academy to be as mobile as possible but to be able to proceed with my Option 3 Mission Impossible, I will try to focus on local riders for the time being. Hopefully other instructors involved will be able to do a bit of running.
I spent several hours playing with Vista Print's designs and creating promotional brochures. They should arrive in the next few days.

Here is a screen snapshot of how they looked like online when I finished. Not whole document is showing but you should get the idea :)

One lovely lady is also helping me organise the printing of large posters that we will be able to put up in tack shops, livery yards and at participating/potential venues.
Another friend of mine who has own yard very kindly offered for me to use her 20x60 arena with some great new jumps and fillers and all weather, rubber surface. This is definitely a superb addition considering the staying in a relatively local area.

A few words on the horses. In order to work on Kingsley's stubborn streak we got a dually head collar for some intensive ground manners lessons! I had a super old version of this head collar several years ago and I found it invaluable to teach horses to respect the handler's personal space. After playing with Kingsley in it on Saturday, even after just 30 minutes the change in his entire attitude was impressive. Today, I walked him to the field speeding up, slowing down, stopping, backing up and he listened well, stopping when I stopped without me prompting. Immediately with this change in leading behaviour came much more submissive attitude in general so definitely worth the £39 that dually cost.

Kingsley is now field sound so we trotted him up on the hard surface to get the idea of the severity of the lameness. He was much better than a couple of weeks ago and actually used his body more correctly on the circle. The lameness is definitely still there with the left fore being affected the most but is probably 50% reduced from how he was a month ago. We are trying to find a turn -away-grass livery home for him but in the meantime we will attempt to resume his walk hacking. Since lungeing seems to be too strenuous (he tends to have a random energy explosion which makes it impossible to keep him in walk non-stop), hopefully the controlled walking will help to strengthen him without causing unnecessary stress.
From the point of view of cutting the losses we should probably just put him down...If he ever recovers enough to be offered for sale to a hacking home it will be for a rather symbolic price.
I would feel much better if we did manage to get him consistently sound enough for someone to enjoy him. He loves marching around the woods so someone who shares such idea of fun would be a fab rider for him.

Frank surprises me. He is still nervous about many things to do with any sort of work but he nevertheless seems more able to mentally cope with pressure. I don't have any particular time related goal for him and take it very much as an experience which might just be what he needs. For the first time today he walked calmly with my weight on him. So far we had all sorts of movements which feel as if he was walking on hot stones wondering when he could bolt. None of that today.
I'm doing lots of steering play with him too by walking next to him and making him understand my voice commands coupled with rein aids. He was very nervous when we first tried this as he prefers you to lead him than for you to walk beside him but we even managed a little trot in hand today. I want him to be confident moving forwards without a leader at his head. While he is very trusting and relies on you for reassurance he is also extremely insecure when asked to go on his own (which might be part of the reason why he spooks so violently when on the lunge and never in-hand). More of the same in the coming weeks and we shall see where will that take us.

Another issue that needs solving due to going for Option No 3 is my driving licence...and a car. Once the Case Studies are out of the way, this will be the priority. How I'm not sure yet ;)

Pic. below: Kingsley after his bath last Monday

and "enjoying" the said bath:

Option No 3...

You may have read my waffle about a week ago on how to move forwards from the current situation. Here is a follow up to my little pondering Question Mark series.

I have had a bit of time to quietly consider variety of options and it was really helpful to read other people's views too. One message especially made me realise what really needs doing. As much as I would love to immerse myself in full-time proper training again it is simply not going to work. I simply can't afford it. If I wanted to pay for it - the amounts are impossible to summon. If I wanted to work in return for it - the pay wouldn't allow me to live in my own house, even if we moved out of London. The only affordable way of doing it would be via a live-in job which is out of question.
To those who suggested finding a place that a) lets me carry on my freelance teaching b) helps with competing c) helps with proper training d) pays enough for me to cover the bills - well, I would love to but I'm yet to find such place. If it exists (not just in theory, of those theoretical ones I found and have worked at quite a few) I will jump at a chance.

Having said that, there is just nothing out there more motivating, inspiring and driving as regular training is.
giving up trying to find a way to go back to training & competing would most likely mean a very depressing life for me.

Moving on, there is also the fact I absolutely love teaching. If I didn't I would try to get myself a nice, easy well paid job and do the riding & training as a serious hobby. As it is, the teaching and training other riders is what makes this job constantly challenging, interesting and stimulating for me. Developing the Academy into a successful, useful project is very much a priority.

All this considering, the only option viable is Option No 3 (scroll down for an older post to see what it was). How?
More waffling on Monday.

Where do I go from here?

The closer I get to the Academy going live the more I ask myself, where do I go from here...I've received some very good feedback from all I shared the drafts of the Programmes with and I'm both anxious and excited at the thought of bringing it all to life and spreading the word. It will take a long time to make it into what I see in my head it could be but I think I'm ready for it.

Should all go according to the plan it would mean I will have my teaching plans and ambitions sorted for the next few years. However, for the next 12 months, it all boils down to one very important issue :

Do I acknowledge it's just too much to try to significantly improve my riding, train & compete AND earn my living in the same time or do I find a way to do both...

You might as well grab a coffee/water/juice or a stronger liquid if you are going to read on - ramble warning.

THE SITUATION

A.
I'm very aware that my location and the fact I rely on public transport to take me places, work against many opportunities I could otherwise utilise. It would be pointless to complain and moan about it as in many ways it's a choice I've made. Living in London is something of an ongoing dilemma for me: on one hand it lets me feel less of an outsider and I feel happy here, on the other hand it makes many potentially beneficial changes impossible. I'd like to stay and yet I'd love to move...
Although many car drivers keep persuading me I absolutely need a car, the truth is, having one in London is a very expensive alternative to public transport. Not to mention you have to allow for actually buying the machine, paying tax, MOTs, any work done to it, insurance (did I miss something?).
In summary, I'm somewhat trapped in a self-made simple maze.

B.
Up until Kingsley's lameness/unsoundness issues I still believed I can somehow slowly climb towards being able to train properly again. The plan for Kingsley was to sell him on very quickly and buy a slightly better model and so on, educating both me and Kingsley's owner in the process, so at some point we could be ready to share a nice competition horse(s) and have fun with competing them. As some of you who read this blog regularly will know, this is now out of question.
In the last few months I started to realise that for the first time ever I actually subconsciously gave up on trying to keep up my own riding education. Not because I lost the desire to become a better rider, but for I came to sad realisation that perhaps it all happens one dream at a time...
I've spent the last few years focusing on training my eye for riders' problems/issues and on how to help them overcome those.
As I have never had any intention to ride other people's horses for money, the teaching is what pays my bills. Unless you can charge £50+ for lessons and you give them a lot, you have to simply just do the latter - work a lot. This leaves you with very little, or no time, for your own riding. Bills paid or pleasure from improving...not much of a choice.

C.
Perhaps there are riders out there who are managing teaching and competing just fine with no "support team -at-home" (loosely understood as Mum or Dad, horsey partner or a helpful Aunt;) but I find it impossible. I can't see how I could deal by myself with having a horse(s) on a D.I.Y. livery (only type I could potentially afford), have the time to ride it, have lessons on, compete it AND continue with amount of teaching I would need to do to cover the costs...Perhaps there is a solution I overlooked?
If I had my family over here I would go for it but again, it is one of those things one can say to me 'It was your own choice'. As I can't argue with that neither can I complain. Just stating the fact.

D.
I'm not a happy-hacker or joyrider. When talking about riding here I mean everyday training and building a relationship with a horse. This for me is what the whole sport is about. It takes time, determination, commitment and consistency.
Seeing riding this way means that schooling random horses at random occasions doesn't feel like fulfilling any ambitions or having much fun. Of course every horse teaches you something new and in many ways it's enjoyable but it's not the same. The core is missing...
Not to mention I like to train to compete.

THE DILEMMA

Considering the above I see 3 options to chose from but it's any one's guess what would be the best one?!

Option 1: Agree to Disagree and Get On With Life As It Is

It is very unlikely for my situation to change anytime soon which is why I need to come up with a plan that reduces my low feeling due to no training and let's me happily focus on the teaching part of my job.
There will hopefully be some opportunities in time that let me ride properly again but right now I think it's better not to be deluded and cease dwelling on things that just aren't to be.
I think (hope) I'm passionate enough about training others for it to drive me and provide me with overall job satisfaction.
Basically this option would essentially be aimed at improving the financial situation, be more business minded than dreams driven and create better foundations for future plans.

Pluses:
Going with this option would mean to stop wasting time on looking for riding opportunities, focus on saving money to buy some wheels and be more mobile and independent.
Sensible...
Time to focus on developing the Academy and its services.
Be home before 9pm and have energy for life outside the Horse World
I'm better when I can direct my focus on one thing rather than many so potential result could mean more quality to my work.
Arrange for a day off now and then to recharge the batteries.

Minuses:
Being restricted to teaching at the level I teach now as I don't believe in teaching above trainer's own knowledge + experience.
Staying still in terms of my own riding skills.
Temporarily giving up on what is the essence of this sport to me: riding to train/training to compete.
Deal with all the low days (possibly many) when I feel like I'm wasting the time in life when I'm reasonably able and healthy and could be taking my riding up a level instead...
I would see it as defeat no matter how much self-talk I would give to myself...
Terribly missing proper riding??

Option 2: Go For Training

Once the Academy is up and running, I could sort out the logistics of it so I only take certain, small amount of work myself. Focus on promoting Academy's website to be able to sell advertising space and gain a few pennies this way. Find a placement on a dressage or event yard where I could keep a horse (loan?), train, compete. Continue working 7 days a week, 2 days of teaching plus 5 days training with some additional teaching as and when necessary.

Pluses:
Doing what I see as the most important thing in this industry: improving own riding skills so I can teach better
Training whilst my body still copes with it, especially my knee which I am sure has a sell by date on it and it's not a long shelf-life product...
Feeling I am doing what I should be doing to continue to improve as a coach/instructor/rider
Chasing my dream to compete for my country (no, not Olympics mind you but some International competitions would be a dream come true).

Minuses:
Finances - verging on impossible
Working hours - a 7 day a week is a killer as I am experiencing now
Leaving some of my fabulous clients as wouldn't have the time to teach them
Possibly having to stay away from home few days at a time most weeks (big minus!!)
If not staying away then very early and very likely lengthy commute to a training yard (my long commutes are already a killer)

Option 3: Find A Way To Balance It All

As I'm ambitious and believe in things impossible this is My sort of option ;) It comes with plenty of significant buts though...
If I go for this one I will need to rob a bank, buy a car and have enough to run it, find a place for Kingsley to be turned away for a year or so to come back to soundness (or not-difficult to say how his conditions will develop with time), find a horse with potential AND good temperament so Pauline and I can both ride it, find another, more advance horse to loan/ride for someone that I can take for lessons and learn on. Possibly find a place to move to near a yard I can use as a base and try to attract as many riders to that base (as oppose to travelling to yards so much).
Arrange for a day off now and then.
Focus on promoting Academy and developing it both through good quality service and via (hopefully!) decent competition record (own and trained riders).

Pluses:
Best of two worlds, I get to focus on Academy for part of the day while also making time for training.
Working on my own riding skills while doing what I am passionate about i.e. delivering quality rider training
Balancing things out always makes me feel happier and this option would be a dream come true.
Living the life as I would love it to be.
Being able to give my best as could rest now and then plus the thought of doing things my preferred way always inspires and motivates me to get better.
Keeping finances healthy while developing myself as a rider.

Minuses:
Least realistic of the 3 options.
Very difficult to implement into real life. Little idea/limited opportunities as to where to start to make it happen.


THE SOLUTION

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Advice and ideas greatly appreciated! What would you do? Are there other potential options out there I fail to see?

P.S. Do you believe in horses experiencing melancholy? If this emotion ever does enter equine state of mind, Kingsley was well and truly melancholic today! It's the only way I could describe his mellow, a bit absent yet very obliging behaviour, cuddly yet distant, listening yet switched off.

Nothing to lose so I will have a go...

It was suggested to me that writing what you will read below might be a good idea...I am not so sure if it will be of any success but I see nothing to lose in following the advice so I shall give it a go. 

Here is the thing. I need to make some decisions about how to drive events forward and although there still is some time left for me to decide which way to go exactly I am told I should look into as many possibilities as possible as soon as possible...

Perhaps there are people I already know who I might approach with this but since I am not that great with decisions in general I thought I would listen to someone who is.

Apparently good decisions take months to take and even more time is involved in thinking about them so maybe I am not that bad after all!

Two things are certain: 

1) I want to keep my teaching largely as it is now as it's what motivates me in the horse world 2) I need a small yard with good facilities to base myself at and to be able to move on with my riding plans.  

So dear readers, here is me asking you to spread the word... If you know/heard of someone who:

- have/will soon have 3-6 stables available to rent at a reasonable rate at a well run yard within 30 minutes radius of Wokingham or Reading area 

- is a decent rider, reliable and ambitious and would like to get involved (as a business partner) in a small business of bringing on/schooling and selling as well as some teaching/training 

- or simply someone who would want to offer any further advice.

Also (although this is far fetched):

- anyone interested in investing their time and money,  

then please write to me for more information on ridinginstructor at gmail dot com (written in this way to limit the amount of spam) or contact me via my website.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated so please feel free to write what you think!

Many Thanks,

Wiola

Kingdom For a Coffee

Writing is a funny thing. Sometimes I start and cannot stop, read it back and think 'whoa, that's a bit too much, don't really want to share all this with the world'. Other times I start thinking there is so much to say and yet I don't seem to be able to form any sense of all the thoughts in my head.
Now is the scenario number two. I feel tired but not sleepy. Heh??
I shall attempt an update...


My Intermediate Teaching exam booking conformation arrived today so there is no going back now. It seems a little complicated what with the UKCC (UK Coaching Certificate) option included and I have to read through all the papers to get my head around it. I reckon I might as well do it together with the exam but it's not compulsory.
I decided to top the game up for all my Sunday clients as most of them are now at a decent level and can easily deal with more demanding lessons. It makes me actually use my brain cells and they learn to cope better with rather difficult horses they have to ride.
The past Sunday was very quiet as many of our riders goes away during half-term so I ended up staff training most of the day. The enthusiasm of the people there is the only thing that truly motivates me to persevere with the oh-so-unsuitable mounts.

Onto the weekdays...apart from Monday which was my lazy day off I am having a bit of a teaching overload. Ealing Riding School is forever busy (they have waiting lists running for miles) and on Tuesday I ended leaving the house at 10am and coming back 10pm, fitting over 10 hours of lessons in. I certainly would not be able to deal with that sort of schedule for any period of time! It messes your brain up ;)

Wednesday - schooling a little sharp pony, went on to teaching lunging to kids on Young Riders' Day (made them lunge each other first - never enough exercise eh?;) followed by the rest of the day with Reading University riders. They are a fantastic bunch of young people and I always have a lot of fun with them.

And back to today - I am feeling strangely tired this week. Find it difficult to get up in the mornings yet don't really feel sleepy much in the evenings. Is this the spring-coming-thing?
There are things I need to get on with asap. Namely, got to start having driving lessons. You see, at 17 I was a bit of an adrenaline junkie and my dear mum (who was terrified of my creative drive) refused to sign a little document for me which I needed in order to have free driving tuition in High School. Bah!
Either way, after having a rather bad car accident (not me driving by the way!) I have no desire to challenge any motorists with any unnecessarily uncanny skills and I am looking forward to strolling along gently in some sort of a four wheel machine.

I am also continuing to search for a house to move to and wonder why the estate agents keep asking me when is the best time to contact me and then never ring when I tell them to ring but exactly when I can't take their calls. Go figure.

Right, I think that's about for today. I am staying over at my lovely friend's tomorrow who makes super coffee which will hopefully keep me awake! Running my Intensive Training day all day Friday as well as Saturday so should be a nice weekend.

And my next exam is...

Looks like my next exam will be on the 22nd of July - the BHS Intermediate Teaching Test (exam syllabus) ...I should really book my Stage IV as well and I am thinking of taking it on the 5th of August but haven't booked it as yet.

I am rather tired, rode three today including one that wanted to pull my arms out of sockets, had to half-halt it every second stride for 40 minutes, then the little mare finally let go and let me ride her. She became so soft and obliging that I only continued for further 5 minutes and finished on that. Sharp little animal she is.

I am pondering about trying to organise my taking part in this:
BHS launches new competition for instructors: The ‘Instructors Challenge’

And here is another little fragment from a super book I am reading currently:

"Horses are neither smart nor stupid in human terms. They are neither because when they surrender to the rider's controls and to his will, they enter a dreamlike state. Are humans smart or stupid when dreaming? Neither. We just know pleasure and pain; we know we are victimised by it. We know that physical discomfort brings on nightmares. Ride a horse into pleasant dream. Make him remember the thrill of it. Ride only as long as it is pleasant and induces in the horse a dream. In a nightmare, a few minutes are much too long!" [Charles De Kunffy]

The Problems, The People, Love, Friends, The Chance

I remember coming across this line that said that if you truly love what you are doing and if you are doing what you should be doing the money and opportunities will appear...

(The pic on the left: sometimes I look at things and can't help snapping them; so simple yet so interesting;)

The Problems

My life seems to run in a funny pattern (but then I guess I am not an exception and you can relate to it as well) - I don't just have difficult times, when it's bad it really does get bad, when it's good it's fantastic. I don't seem to have much of those nice, easy steady times!
To be completely fair I only ever had one proper downfall so far, one when you just keep falling and falling and there is no end to that blinding despair. You get through those times though and in fact, what is quite frightening in life's way is how much we are really capable to deal with without loosing the plot...When it starts to get better you realise that you just got yourself this sturdy new body armour, another layer of protective tissue so when you are hit again the impact isn't as great.
And you are ready for the good time to come. Well wishing people will come your way.

The People

Amazingly, as if by magic, this pattern has never failed me as yet...I do find myself incredibly lucky and am forever grateful for meeting people who so happily help me. It's very moving.

Love

"The supreme happiness in life is the conviction that we are loved." -- Victor Hugo
Love at first sight is easy to understand; it's when two people have been looking at each other for a lifetime that it becomes a miracle." -- Amy Bloom

Friends

The road to a friend's house is never long Danish Proverb
With true friends...even water drunk together is sweet enough. Chinese Proverb

The Chance

So, my dear readers, I think my little good time plane has just landed. I just got to get on it now and make sure I pick the destination correctly.
Someone has very kindly decided to help me out but it's down to me now not to screw the chance I am being given.
We are going to drive around the airport for a bit but do fasten your seat belts, we might take off any minute from now...

In peace

I haven't had a day like today for good several months - by this I mean a day when I have a house to myself and time which is just totally mine to do what I please with.
This considering I decided to just truly sit down and think through all the options for the end of this year, evaluate what I managed to get done so far and what still needs doing. Since late summer, when I decided to restructure my working week, I've spent ages looking for various jobs that would fit with one I want to keep for now but to no avail. I even looked for full-time jobs that might suit me and that would go hand in hand with my overall career plan - all equine related of course but nothing seemed 'just right'. I've started to feel lost in those hectic proceedings and although I kept going I didn't really feel in peace with it. Somewhere on the way I have forgotten that life is what happens when you make other plans; that my life just seems to organise itself best if I don't interfere too much. Fair enough, I do need to steer a bit now and then but I should know better not to over direct myself. I do know where I am going which I guess is the most important thing.

So after having a very me-day with lots of me-time today I came to the conclusion I am going to leave things as they are until Christmas when I will think about my further plans once again.
I am now going to focus on my Stage IV Care exam which I am taking on the 1st of December - keep your fingers crossed!
I also got asked to take over organisation of a Pony Club at one of the places I work at so am having fun thinking about ways to improve the activities ;) - if anyone has any bright ideas on how to make a pony club centre work best feel free to email me at ridinginstructor at gmail dot com.

And I shall do a lot of horse hunting too...........:)

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"Life's splendor forever lies in wait about each one of us in all its fullness, but veiled from view, deep down, invisible, far off. It is there, though, not hostile, not reluctant, not deaf. If you summon it by the right word, by its right name, it will come." [Franz Kafka]

My AI Certificate arrived today :)

Three things happened which made today a fabulous day: 1) Ricky took me for a lovely breakfast in a charming French cafe :)

2) The weather was truly gorgeous and 3) !!! My AI Certificate arrived this afternoon...

Please note: all the signatures has been removed, image watermarked; please do not copy the below image.

I WON my first ever PRIZE! :):)

I got an exciting phone call yesterday from Cate Ashton of Manage My Horse who informed me that I won their 'Tell a Friend' competition and will receive a £400 worth of vouchers of my choice!! Looks like my next exams are being booked very shortly :)

The below is a copy of a part of the newsletter that went out to all MMH members:

Click on image below to enlarge:

Here is a LINK to a web version of the above newsletter (scroll down the page).

To say I am thrilled is an understatement!!!!
Have a look at the Manage My Horse site as various competitions are run all the time and some fantastic prizes are awaiting :)

Biting the bullet

Pic.: Having a little rest - 'do you have polos or are you going to take endless pics?'

To my delight Ricky offered to pay for my next choice of exam so I bit the bullet and we booked my Stage IV Care (Intermediate Stable Managers) for the 1st December.
Unfortunately, I have to wait for my AI Certificate to be issued before I can apply for Intermediate Teaching exam so it will probably have to wait until next year (unless I am very lucky and Warwickshire College still have places for November exam left next month). The BHS says you have to allow minimum of 28 days for the Certificate to be posted.
I sent off my Log Book and copies of documents required by Recorded Delivery today.
The difference in between Stage IV and Stages I,II and III is that there isn't really a book to fall back on. You have to draw from your experiences and everyday events, read Vet manuals and stable management materials.
They want to see you being well and truly immersed in managing a yard and you have to look like you know what you are doing.
Considering I spend 40 hours a week teaching and just a few on the yard I am just a tad bit worried...

For more information on the BHS Exam structure click on image below:

Pic.: British Horse Society (BHS) Coaching Examination Structure

On turning professional - business talent vs riding talent

My dream, aim and goal is to run my own riding establishment for which I have several strong ideas and know what I want it to be but I am also very aware of how little I know about full reality of running a business in the UK. So I try to learn as much as possible.
One good thing about Internet is that you can access variety of information for free and without running around which is great after all days at work where you barely sit down.
I came across this video today where a father of an event rider explains how he goes about running his daughter's riding career and thought someone may find it interesting.

The authors of the video say: "This intruiging interview highlights the predicament facing many young riders, namely the transition from what Georgie Spence’s Dad calls “a serious family hobby to a business”. Finding and managing owners, marketing Georgie’s talent and creating the right backup are all challenges Georgie and her family face. Georgie and Russell Spence talk to Fiona Price, March 08." [www.horsehero.com]

Intermediate Teaching Test - should I?

It was brought to my attention yesterday that I don't actually need my Stage IV to be able to take the Intermediate Teaching (IT) Test exam. In this case I am now considering taking both the IT Test and Stage IV Horse Knowledge & Care this year.
The IT Test syllabus doesn't have any teaching elements that I haven't done so far. The Test requires candidates to give:

Dressage Lesson
Jump Lesson
Class Lesson
Lunge Lesson
Lecture

And to discuss:

Equitation Theory
Business and Yard Management

I would definitely need to read up on the elements in Business & Yard Management section.
The decision needs to be made quickly as the dates fill up really quickly and the bookings have to be made at least a couple of months in advance. I am thinking of either October date at Trent Park or November at Warwickshire College.
Now I just need to budget myself and see if it is doable.

My Stage III results arrived tonight and guess what...

I passed!! Both Riding and Horse Knowledge & Care sections with only one X out of all blooming elements. I am over the moon!
So now I need to send the BHS my Log Book with all the teaching hours logged in (which was just waiting for my Stage III results), copies of my certificates (Equine First Aid, The Child Protection Cert and Stages') and await the arrival of my AI Certificate.

Very happy me would like to thank everybody who contributed to my teaching quest so far. The Thank You Award goes to:

• P. for making the taking of the exam possible
• all my clients for challenging me every day,
  
• friends at work for English lessons (;-0) and support,
  
• friends who let me ride and compete their lovely horses so I am not too rusty,
• all the readers of my blog of course for sharing all the ups and downs
  
• and Ricky as always for all his help and for patience when dealing with my horsey obsession :)
  

Next step (exam wise) for this year will be to book my Stage IV Horse Knowledge & Care on the 1st of December. Stage IV Riding (click and scroll down the pdf for syllabus for Riding section) will have to wait for next year as I need to arrange for more hours in the saddle!

I've been asked to do an interview for an equine podcast Radio!

Stable Scoop Radio Show wrote to me today asking whether I would like to give an interview for their 'Blog of the Week' podcast. I am not sure if it goes through as the phone call to the US would cost me a small fortune but if it somehow does go forward I shall let you all know.
Here is a part of the email in question:

"Hi Wiola,

We have recently added your blog to our blog listing at www.stablescoop.com. We are a new podcast by some veteran podcasters - the first for The Horse Radio Network. Stop over and take a look and listen.

We have a segment on our show every week called "Blog of the Week". I really like your blog and how well you have kept up with it. We would like to have you on one of our upcoming episodes for an interview. We can record the interview over the phone, would you be interested?"

Stage III Exam - Report

Yesterday.

I arrived at Trent Park at 8.15 for 8.30 briefing only to find out that we supposed to have had walked both show jumping and xc courses before briefing! Ran to walk the courses; thought the SJ was up to hight with BSJA distances in a quite a narrow arena. In fairness the jumps were only 1m high (3'3) but as I barely jump now they seemed quite imposing. Lost of fillers, style, two angled approaches, planks, red wall. Looked good.
I was so stupidly nervous at first that rode my both flatwork horses like a numpty! However, another rider told me it looked great so I don't know whether it was simply one of those moments when everything feels much worse than it looks.
Then onto the jumping and I had a fab round on a little dark bay mare. I hope they won't fail me for going fast though ;) I felt her stride wasn't up to the job in her own little rhythm she preferred so pushed her into a more forward canter. It seemed to have worked as we had a great stride to all the fences (apart from one to which she got a bit close but not too bad).
XC - smaller than Intro, more like a schooling round and the grey horse I rode loved it!

Theory went well, I feel. Practical theory not too bad either. I even managed not to get entangled into all the double bridle straps ;)

I really, really hope I passed. My only worry is the flatwork section as I feel I let myself down on it. We have to wait 2 weeks for results now.

Young Instructor of the Year South East Qualifier - Report!

Just a quick line for now to say it was a fab day, I got some great feedback on my teaching and fantastic boost of confidence too! Although of course there was also some (constructive) criticisms it was a really good feeling to know my methods and way of teaching get thumbs up :)
Proper report will be put in place of this post very soon but now I have to revise to my exam on Monday !!
Results will be posted to us by post; only 1 person per qualifier (out of 8 at each qualifier) gets nominated to the final at Stoneleigh Park so I won't hold my breath...