Introduction Part Three (Heartland Part 2)

Farrah, as I grew to know her better, became my role model.  I wanted to be just like her-she was kind to everyone she met, seemed to know exactly what to say at exactly the right time, and when she played with her horses, I could sit and watch her for hours on end.  She was like magic.

Being directly under Farrah's charge, I was able to travel and attend clinics with her.  We usually brought Chase, and sometimes she brought another horse for me to ride if there was a riding part to the clinic.  In return, I mixed her horses' grain and hay cubes for her, cleaned out her trailer, brought water to her horses, and helped clean up after each clinic day. 

It truly was amazing, getting to know her and learn from her.  If you ever get a chance to take a clinic with Farrah, do it.  She is absolutely one of the best teachers and friend that I have come across.  I still want to be like her when I 'grow up'. 

Being able to watch and learn from Farrah changed me in a very intimate level.  I began to learn what true leadership meant-and the areas that I needed to improve in, first and foremost, it seemed, was patience, and being able to passively keep persisting.  I remember during a clinic, I was getting silently frustrated because the horse that had been brought for me to ride wasn't allowing me to mount easily.  I was trying to hide my frustration as everyone else was already on their horses and getting on with the lesson, but of course Farrah saw right through me.  She came up to me and said "You shouldn't ride a horse if you're not willing to teach it."
Boy was I humbled.  Just like that-BAM.  My pattern was interrupted, and frankly I wanted to crawl into a hole and hide.  But of course I didn't-it was three fourths into the freestyle lesson before I was able to mount up and ride, and if I knew then what I knew now, I wouldn't have been so direct lined about it.  But honestly, what I learned during that forty-five minutes of trying to get the 'stupid' horse to stand still and allow me to mount was exactly the lesson I needed to learn at that time. 

I began to undergo a learning pattern as time stretched on.  Basically, when I got too cocky I was firmly knocked down one way or another, and then when I had lost faith in myself-as was often the case after getting knocked down from my pedestal, Farrah always found some way to raise my confidence up again.  Funnily enough, she compared me to one of my close friends whom she also knew, which makes me wonder if that friend had also begun her learning progress in the same way.  It was mentally exhausting, but the results began to show.  I began to change.  How my horse looked at me began to change.