Warmblood By Scot Tolman “We are slaves to the lives we created for ourselves.” I
keep this quotation on a sticky note on my computer, just above the keyboard. It serves as my reality check. It's 10 p.m. on Friday night, December fifth. This
column is now over a week late. For a couple issues now, I've realized the inevitable outcome of this column, and I've tried repeatedly to write something different. Tonight, however, after employing all of my customary procrastination techniques (cleaning the cat’s litter box, emptying the dishwasher, catching up on Words with Friends, and making a serious dent in a bag of tortilla chips), I'm at a point at which I just have to say it. As part of my need and desire to simplify the many projects in my life, it's time for me take a break from writing for Warmbloods Today. Knock on wood, by mid-March I'll
be over three years cancer-free. As the whole surgery, recovery and chemo period of time came to a close, I promised myself and my family that I would find more time to simply live and enjoy the wonderful life Carol and I have built for ourselves. The further removed I've become from that time, the more I've lost hold of that promise. Suddenly, I find myself running the farm (which is back up to 16 horses on the premises and four horses off), teaching full time, directing two stage shows (one of which I’m writing), riding five days a week, writing for multiple venues—and trying to be a husband and father. I need to refocus, and some things just have to go. Additionally, this coming breeding year marks the
beginning of a new cycle for our breeding program. As many of you know, the Dutch name their horses according to the letter that corresponds with the year during which they are born. In 2013, all of our babies' names had to start with an “I.” This year, 2014, all names need to start with a “J.” The system skips “Q,” “X,” and “Y.” Our first foals were born in the “K” year, which means we were making breeding decisions in the last “J” year. Hence, in anticipation of this breeding season and beginning our alphabetical journey once again, and in a quest to follow through on my promise to my family,
98 November/December 2013
I'm feeling a need to reflect on my choices and to make sure I’m “slave to the life” I planned and not the life that I allowed to happen. I’d like to thank Liz Cornell for asking me to be part of
her crazy adventure. The success of this magazine is due completely to her dedication to and passion for it. Thank you also to the many of you who have expressed your pleasure and displeasure with my sense of humor and not-so-subtle opinions over the last couple of years—it always warms me to know that people enjoy my writing and/or thought process, and I take every criticism (real or imagined) to heart and evaluate its legitimacy as honestly as I can. If the powers that be will have me back, I’d very much enjoy contributing a piece occasionally. So, in closing and before I abandon
my pulpit, allow me one more diatribe: North American Warmblood breeders not only have the potential to
produce some of the top sport horses in the world, they already are. However, without breeders from multiple studbooks joining together to create a louder and more unified voice, a national systematic approach to getting top young horses started and in the hands of top riders, and an umbrella organization that tracks and accurately documents the sport results of the horses we’re producing, our horses and our breeders are never going to get the recognition they deserve. Idealism and altruism are great, and are ‘isms’ to which I aspire. Nonetheless, it would be nice for those of us who are the keepers of the flame to finally be recognized, both financially and for the quality of what we’re producing. Happy New Year to you all, and may you also be
“slaves” to wonderful lives, filled with horses and people who inspire you.
Scot Tolman has been breeding Dutch Warmbloods for over 20 years at Shooting Star Farm in Southwestern New Hampshire. Read more of Scot’s writing at
shootingstarfarm.com.
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