Advice from the barn help

I am not really young anymore, but sometimes I read blogs and articles about young people and what is wrong with them today.  You know the ones:  the entitled, lazy, self-centered, whiny young people.  I don’t know many of those kind of young people.  That’s probably because most of the young people I know hang around in horse barns.  The young people that I know work several jobs, don't complain, start their days at 4:00 am to prepare for competitions, put their animals' needs before theirs, and support their friends with fierce loyalty.  I spent my 20s working in barns, too, and I honestly credit those days with building the success in my life.  Although I don’t make my living training and caring for horses anymore, I am what I am because of it.  Any work ethic, humility, patience, and demand for excellence I have in my come from lessons learned in barns.  Here are just a few of them.

• No one is above doing what needs to be done.  One day when I was a working student at a premier dressage barn, the morning stall guy didn’t come in.  We called around for someone else, but all of the other guys weren’t available.  So, the head trainer cleaned the stalls with us; a guy whose classical and competitive dressage credentials would stack up against anyone in the country, or maybe the world, showed up at 5:30 am to muck stalls. Horses poop and someone needs to clean it up.
• No fancy education makes up for hard work and quick study.  I had graduated from a respectable program with excellent references. When I showed up for my first apprenticeship, the director said, “Well, usually people with college degrees don’t last long.  At least you know how to read and write, I guess.”  Nothing I’d done before mattered unless it prepared me to meet future challenges.
• The world is fickle; focus on your practice. Judges, clients, and horses come and go.  You will be up one day and down the next.  Don’t let success or failure sway you from your core principles; don’t turn away from what you know is right in order to find a quick fix.
• “You can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear, but you can make a damn good sow’s ears purse out of a sow’s ear.”  (I believe this is a quote from the late horseman, Ray Hunt.)  Even without the best ingredients, take pride in your work and make a difference with what you have.
• Education is an opportunity.  Horse people pay more than they can afford for training with knowledgeable experts.  Do not turn down any opportunity to learn from someone with more experience. 
• Get over yourself.  One time a particular horse I was working was assigned to a different trainer, right before a big performance.  I had an entire temper tantrum, crying and carrying on like a four-year-old.  I felt passed over and I was pissed off.  One of the old trainers told me, “Kid, if you can’t take this, you might as well get out now.  You are in for a road of disappointments bigger than this one.  No one owes you anything and no one wants to hear you whine.”  It was the best advice I have ever received.  I never threw a fit like that again.