Gateway Family Services of Illinois—a non-profit mental health agency. Have you checked out our Gold Star profile on Candid.org.
05/12/2026
🐴 Steady in the uncertainty.
I still remember the showmanship pattern at the state fair. Trot past the cone, back up to it. Complete a 270, walk to the judge, and set up for inspection.
Simple enough — until I backed my horse right on top of that cone. So there I was, in front of the judge, completing my 270 turn while the cone spun under Baja's hoof like a hockey puck on ice.
Embarrassing? Absolutely.
But was it a wasted experience? Not even close.
That cone showed me exactly where Baja and I were breaking down. I was sending mixed signals and assuming he understood what I wanted. He was doing his best to understand my confusing signals. The "failure" wasn't really a failure at all — it was the most honest feedback I could've gotten.
And it lit a fire. I went home and practiced. And practiced. And practiced again. I learned to slow down, to be intentional with my cues, to actually communicate instead of assume. Slowly, something shifted between us. Showmanship stopped being something I dreaded and started being something Baja and I genuinely enjoyed together.
That's the thing about horses. They don't grade us on whether everything goes right. They invite us into a relationship where the hard moments — the spun cones, the blown transitions, the spooks at nothing — become opportunities to improve trust, communication, and where confidence is built.
If your peace depends on everything going perfectly, it's not peace. It's control.
So here's to the messy patterns. The embarrassing ones. The "well, that didn't go as planned" days. They're not setbacks. They're the moments that grow us — and the moments that deepen the partnership between horse and human in ways a flawless pattern never could.
