Just BREATHE, and watch Cooper. Do as Cooper does…

Things in my life are sliding into place, much to my eternal surprise! 

For 3 years I’ve been worried constantly about, what happens now? Failure is not an option, what if I fail? I’m pretty sure I’m going to fail. How can I possibly succeed? I’ve made SO MANY mistakes already!!

I graduated college, surprising even myself. Some of you don’t seem surprised, but I was entirely surprised. Even more surprising was my passing of the CST Exam. That test scared the living daylights out of me. Finding a job has proven to be a challenge, but not one I can’t handle. I have had to adjust to figuring out how to “look good on paper”, or the computer screen as the case is now. I was used to walking into a vet clinic, resume’ in hand, and walking out with a job. Yea…not so in the world of human hospitals. One pretty much needs to have a “friend at the factory”, which, fortunately, I happen to have, way over yonder. I’ve been wishing and wishing for something in the Portland area, so I can be close to my grandson, who’s arrival is imminent. Sometimes though, the plans are not what we thought. As I have been constantly reminded of throughout my life, my plans are only MY plans, not the plan that evidently was made for me without my approval! That’s the way of things, I suppose. Does no good to constantly question it. What it reminds me of is that it is up to me to make a priority of the things that are most important. Supporting myself, being a good mother, grandmother, sister, and maybe even partner (again one day). My opportunity to prove that is coming, I suspect. 

Now, there is the matter of this really big 100 mile ride I managed to talk myself into. WHAT WAS I THINKING??? It’s gotten to the point that when I think of the ride, I can see Rock and I covering parts of the trail, me beside him, behind him, and riding him, and I can see us crossing the finish line, then I get a lump in my throat, goosebumps, and fervently work to make it so in my mind. I’m getting that heavy chested feeling I would get before final exams. Have I prepared enough? Am I going to pass this test? Did I miss some critical point that I really needed to consider? I think I have prepared (BIG “I HOPE” inserted there). Rock is without a doubt, the strongest, best work ethiced (is that even a word? NO, I made it up!), intelligent, credit to his breed and species, gooey eyed critter I’ve ever had the privilege to compete on. How can we fail? As Max is fond of saying, “What can possibly go wrong?!”  Uh…let me list the things! Actually, I’ve taken the mind set that I will do all things I know to finish a ride, and do them, do them really really well! Start the ride prepared by showing up with a fit horse, mind and body, strong protection on his feet, be prepared to do the appropriate amount of miles on my feet, make sure both of us eat and drink and take care of ourselves. This sounds like it’s all about me, but I’m headed into this ride with two very good friends, and mentors, Ron Sproat and Max Merlich, who’ve both finished this ride. While we know it may be unrealistic to think we can stick together all day long, we’re going to do our best, employing a riding tactic we practiced at the Renegade ride with great success. We’ll look out for one another, we’ll encourage one another, keep one another out of danger to the best of our abilities, but I know that each of us is dedicated to “riding our own ride” if the situation calls for it. Every single one of our critters is capable of going it alone, if necessary. Can I do this? Can I ask Rock to do it? Truly, I don’t know, but I’m not going to let myself think that I can’t. Failure is not an option. 

The visual I have in my head is when Ron, Max and I finished the Renegade ride, hand in hand, side by side. I hope we can finish the Tevis the same way. That’s how I see it anyhow. 

I’m hoping that all of us NW riders signed up for the ’14 Tevis can do the region as proud as last year’s NW riders did, and all the NW riders in years past that went down to this tough damn ride and did a good job of representing the single best AERC region in the US. 

As for me? I just want to finish the ride with a strong Rock, my single best riding partner ever, doing him justice and his parents proud. 

Failure…is not an option. (I think I need that on a shirt, and it will be added to my note card of mantras for sure.)

So yea, I’ve been instructed to watch Cooper, and “Have Cooper’s attitude at Tevis!”

Cooper: https://youtu.be/tHvExOg4NI0

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