S s
Attitude CHECK
OMETIMES IT TAKES A VILLAGE When Things Go Wrong
ometimes it takes a village to get one rider to the ring. The show
world can be daunting and when things out of the ordinary happen they can rattle the cage of even the most stoic rider. When it happens to juniors who are new to the show ring, or don’t get to show very often, it can be devastating. The scene is Thermal, week three,
and a frantic family is going up and down vendor row in search of some- one to fix a broken zipper in a pair of show boots. No luck. Stepping into the Allon trailer the search now turned to purchasing, again no luck for this young lady. Into the trailer steps a media lady who quickly re- sponds to the mother, gives the child a hug with “It will be OK,” and turns quickly to another shopper, Britt Hartley and her client, Lisa Schreifels from San Marcos. All eyes met, Nick Collins (owner of Allon) nodded his head, heads turned and Lisa quickly responded with, “Here try mine, I have another pair.” They fit. The mother was speechless; the
junior rider was full of thank you- thank you-thank you nonstop. With- out the boots there would have been no Thermal for this young lady, one week was all there was in the budget and no money for new boots. With a promise to return them well polished and clean, the family was off to the
ring to compete. At the end of the day Sunday, the boots were returned with a shine that would make the mil- itary proud. Fast forward to week five and the
scene sort of repeated itself with some differences. Another junior in vendor row in tears with a broken boot zipper. Not only could she not find someone to repair her boots, there were absolutely none to buy that would fit her leg. Arriving at the EQU Lifestyle Boutique in full tears to at least try to find paddock boots and half chaps, the desperation and sadness was evident and written all over the face of the child. Mom, in a typical mom fashion, was beside her- self trying to make something work for her daughter who was only show- ing for two days and was obviously on the edge of not showing at all. Fate steps in and the same media
lady is standing in the EQU vendor trailer playing with their charming dog, Zoe. A quick arm went around the mother, a smile for the daugh- ter and the welcome words, “Let me work on this, I think I can help.” Having no idea how to find a pair
of boots for this hard to fit child, she quickly went to the best place pos- sible, Sonoma Valley Stables, home of Hope and Ned Glynn and their clients. Explaining the plight of the child, Sonoma clients quickly loaded
a couple of pair of boots into the media gold cart and the race was on. The child’s class was gathering at the back gate of hunter ring three. No luck, none of the boots fit. Ar-
riving back at Sonoma’s tack room set up there was a lady who looked like the same leg size as the child in tears. “What would it take to talk you out of your boots for a class for a rider?” Without hesitation, Sabrina Hellman sat down and pulled her boots off and handed them over. “These are an extra pair but I hope they work. If they fit she can use them for the weekend” They did, they fit!!! The rider made
the class and got a ribbon. The boots were returned at the end of the next day, polished and accompanied by a wonderful bottle of wine for the Hellman’s and Sonoma Valley Stables. A gracious way to say thank you. The moral of this story is what hap-
pens behind the scenes of our show world. For Lisa Schreifels and Sa- brina Hellman, they could have sim- ply walked on and had a great show experience themselves, never being bothered with these young riders. But that was simply not possible for them. There was no hesitation of any sort on their part and the two young ladies will have a lasting impression of a wonderful experience made pos- sible by complete strangers.
Take chances. Tell the truth. Say no. Spend all your cash. Get to know someone random. Be random. Say I love you. Sing out loud. Laugh at stupid
jokes. Cry. Apologize. Tell someone how much they mean you. Tell a jerk what you think. Laugh till your stomach hurts. Live life. Regret Nothing.
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