Happy 2013!!!

So grateful for the way 2012 ended because the beginning and mid way through wasn't the way I had planned! But is anything the way we plan it? Not usually!

2012 brought many new relationships that I'm so grateful to have and a few new horses that I can't wait to have relationships with!

Team USA has a new coach and the changes that seem to be happening are very exciting for all of us who aspire to ride for Team USA and those who want Team USA to be the best!!

As far as my plans I'm very excited to be sitting on several nice horses right now. I have my tentative plans on what and how I'm going to improve on my horses both on a personal level as well as a competitive level.

Receiving the Rebecca Broussard National Developing Grant put so much inspiration in me! I have always been pretty determined and focused, however this just gave me a nudge that is truly going to help me become even better because of the financial boost!

Receiving a 15k grant to better myself is such a wonderful and amazing opportunity. I sat down and realized that I will be able to be more consistent in my training as well as more thorough in my competitions due to not having a financial constraint.

I have already been in full force and its paying off. I've been down to Stefen Peters to work on my dressage and be able to watch the master ride!
Lane Clarke has been out to teach me on all of my horses to perfect my show jumping. Niki Hall has been my dressage instructor that I have ridden with for over 5 years now and has been out weekly to help me on my horses.....and Allen Clarke has helped me all around with all of the horses especially the horses that need that extra attention to detail. I really feel like I have a great team and we all work so well together.

I have a very busy year ahead of me as well as NLE. I'm really excited about everyone and there plans for the future.

NLE has expanded beyond my expectations and I couldn't be more thrilled. Every student, owner, parent, sponsor & horse is an important part of the success of NLE and I'm so excited for what the future has in store!

With everything that happens to us in our lives we can only take our experiences and let them teach us and allow them to make us better. The strong and determined allow this to happen and when we do that it makes us that much better. It prepares us for greatness.
I'm really looking forward to 2013, and I am so excited for the future of everyone involved with my program! It's very inspirational to see each and every horse and rider improve daily! To see the enthusiasm surrounded around our team is such a great feeling and really keeps each and everyone of us wanting to strive to get better!

I'm wishing all of my friends, peers, colleges and team mates a wonderful 2013 and I hope you find your inner competitive desire to be the best in everything you do!!!

Cheers to SUCCESS & Kickin Butt!!!

T

Finding the ONE!

Someone asked me how do you know when you look at a horse if it has what it takes to be a winner.
I thought about the question and thought to myself.....I don't know. There are so many ingredients that go into producing a winner and just when you think you have the answer and you show up to the jog at Rolex all of your answers are proven wrong. Conformation.....it helps but some of the most winning horses have terrible confirmation. I think it's desire and heart. The want to keep going and the heart to go and try harder when the going gets tough.....and most importantly the partnership. I just recently took a clinic from a very good friend of mine and he said to me.....Tamie don't forget about how much you love riding. How much you love your horses. You get caught up with running your business that it seems as though you forget about the important piece to riding and that's compassion.
It immediately broke my heart. I thought to myself I do love my horses, and I do love riding. But he was right.....I have a very compassionate side to me as well as a very competitive side. I have to remember the one key ingredient to becoming successful and that is a great partnership. I had a wonderful partnership with a horse by the name of Pavarotti. A Trahkehner stallion that at the beginning of our partnership was very difficult. As time went on he became one of my best friends. He accomplished things because of his heart and my compassion for him. We had a wonderful understanding. And because of his extraordinary effort to please me, I had more trust in a horse than I have had in a long time. I recalled my partnership with him because that horse was 10 years old and never jumped with a rider on his back before He came to me. He went from standing as a stallion on a small farm to the 2* level in a little over a year with the help of Allen Clarke, an Australian horse trainer like no other. His ability to learn was like no other horse I have met, and I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to ride such a wonderful horse.
That partnership took us to top 5 placings in almost every event we entered. I always knew I could count on him and he always knew he could trust me.
So when someone asks me next time how do you know when you have a winner, I will say, when you have a horse with a heart to try and a desire to push through difficult tasks it gives you the most unimaginable partnership. That's how you know you have one that has what it takes!