Little Tidbits from Today

Hi Friends - and a shout out to MK.

I was pondering the next tale and searched my memories of Session 3 which ended Oct. 24th for some insights. What stands out for me at this time is the fact that I missed week 6, the final ride of the session and the final ride of the year. I had a dad ask me if it was the first time I had missed week 6. That really made me think. I remember moving week 6 to week 5 once, so I wouldn't miss it. The significance of week six is that it is "show day". Each participant at One Heart earns a ribbon on week six. All of the ribbons are donated to One Heart. Most have already been won and donated by the original owner so that we can lovingly recycle the ribbon to our equestrians. Some ribbons come to us from show secretaries or associations who have an inventory remaining from a past show or event. These are crisp and still in the box! Our recycled ribbons get overhauled with a dusting and an ironing from living under the bed or at the back of the closet- thanks, Vol Chealsea who learned to iron.... :)

These ribbons are dandies and represent lots of hard work by the original recipient and no less effort by our riders. We had the President of the Iowa Dressage and Cross-training association recycle some of her collection of ribbons to our riders while she served as "guest judge" one week six. She presented a lovely red (typically red denotes a second place....but not for us) ribbon to a two year old equestrian. I got a real kick out of the judge's comment, "I worked really hard for this ribbon!" While the judge may have meant....ironically, "all that work and I got second", I literally heard it as if spoken by the 2 year old, "I worked really hard for this ribbon!" It was the same hard work in my estimation.

It was an impressive ribbon, nonetheless, and the two year old proudly wore it hooked over the crew neck of her tee-shirt. She, in fact, would not allow it to be removed. As the busy young family hurried toward their car, Mom fretted and encouraged the child to keep focused on getting to the car. The youngster finally had shown her ribbon to all of us and struggled to push her walker across the lawn at the pace requested by Mom. The streamers on the ribbon continually interfered with her efforts. Mom mistakenly thought it would help to remove the dangling ribbon. This stopped all forward progess and we got to see an instant two-year old tantrum. Mom returned the ribbon and the child propelled her walker forward again.

The ribbons certainly mean so much to the donor and the equestrian (and their supporters) of One Heart. The ribbons we present have come from Minnesota, Arizona, Iowa, and back east from some schooling shows. We have trophies as well; solid pewter, tall ones, palm-sized ones, multi-colored, silver and gold. The trophies come from local saddle clubs and world shows. A treasured prize representing investment of planning, time, skill, work, financial investment, practice, training, and a good dose of luck.

And this is the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of Session 3 '09 - I missed Week 6! There were certainly many other fun and exciting events during Session 3. I will think of some for another time.

Tomorrow I will tell you why I missed week 6. It turned out to be pretty great.

Until next time, Walk on! Kris