| The Tennessee Walking Horse Enthusiasts of Arizona are sponsoring this year's 6th annual Arizona All Gaited FUN Show. As usual, it will be held at the Phoenix Horse Lover's Park (formerly Reach 11). There will be classes for Tennessee Walking Horses, Peruvian Pasos, Paso Finos, Missouri Foxtrotters and combination classes for any and all types of gaited horses. If you have a Mountain Saddle Horse, Gaited Mule, Icelandic, Spotted Saddle Horse, or any soft gaited equine come and join us. In addition to the gait classes, we will have a Trail Course, Sit A Buck and Champaign classes to test your skills. During the lunch break, there will be a Sales Class for those interested in selling, buying, or breeding stock. "Sweet Things", a food concessionaire, will be there to provide for your eating needs. The Raffle table will have a variety of horse and non-horse related prizes. The entry desk opens at 8:00 a.m. with classes starting at 9:00 a.m. For more information, contact Marsha Daniel (602) 953-9665, Guylene Ozlanski (480) 807-7938 or Gloria Cooley (480) 830-2581. |
| Have you tried to "Kick up Kindness" this year?? Then how about "kick'n up your heels" at the Buck a Roo Ball set up to celebrate the year in review for Miss Rodeo USA 2000 - Marjon Brady! We will also send off Gilbert Days Queen Betsy Rose Rice with Good luck at her preview trunk show as she prepares to travel to Oklahoma City to compete for Miss Rodeo USA 2001! Plan to join us the first week in January 2001 for this fun event! Watch for more details! Questions? Call Julee (480) 641-3679 Betsy: (602) 454-7353 |
| Joe Badilla Jr. is a member of the inaugural inductees to the Arizona Quarter Racing Hall of Fame this year. Joe's career has taken off since he left Arizona in 1993 to ride full time in California. His first win in a $100,000 race was the 1994 Kindergarten Futurity aboard Cool Papa Bell. His first win in a $1,000,000 race was the 1995 Los Alamitos Million aboard Evening Snow, who went on to break the world record for 440 yards in the 1996 MBNA Challenge Championship here at Turf Paradise. Las year, Joe won the All American Futurity aboard A Delightful Dasher. All three of those wins had Arizona connections. Joe's Arizona connections have been a big part of the foundation of his success. Last year, Joe broke the all time record for earnings for a quarter horse jockey with $3.6 million in earnings, breaking the old record of $2.8 million in earnings. Last year, Joe also received his third AQHA world champion jockey award. Joe is joined in the winner's circle by his mother Fran, his father Joe Sr., his brother Orlando and by his good friend Jim Kelly. Jim Kelly, president and Loretta Brasher, executive director, are representing the Arizona Quarter Racing Association which is giving him the award. Today Joe joins 17 others as they are honored by the Arizona Quarter Racing Association for their contributions to quarter horse racing in Arizona. The ceremony was in the winners circle at Turf Paradise. Joe had come in from Los Alamitos to ride You Light Up My Lif in the MBNA Challenge championship for fellow AQRA Hall of Famer, trainer John Bassett, who was inducted earlier this year. As you all know, the AQRA, inducted 18 horsemen and 8 horses into the inaugural Hall of Fame. Many of you have expressed thoughts on candidates for the next induction. We have a committee in place to decide each year who should be inducted. Please send all your nominations to P.O. Box 1316, Thatcher, Arizona 85552 or you can email ibaqra@hotmail.com. The committee will meet in November. We plan to have the induction ceremony December 9th at the awards banquet for 2001 inductees. This year the Arizona Quarter Racing Association's Awards Banquet and Silent Stallion Service Auction will be held at Rillito Park in Tucson. |
| Sertoma International has been a leading civic service organization for over 85 years. Since 1912, people have banded together to provide help for their communities, to foster friendship and learn more about themselves. Over the years, Sertomans have raised millions of dollars, sponsored speech and hearing clinics and National Heritage contests, presented Service to Mankind Awards to many deserving individuals and more. Sertomans today are certainly different from the founding Members of the Kansas City Co-Operative Club. Members include both young and old, men and women, residing in big cities and small towns. They meet in the morning, at noon and in the evening. But they are still united by Sertoma's purpose-service to the community, to each other and to everyone who needs Sertoma's help. Sertomans are men and women who volunteer to help communities become better places to live and have fun doing it through SERvice TO MAnkind. Purpose of Club Building - Our Mission To find and reach communities with specific needs that have not been met. To define the community need (i.e. new park, swimming pool, community center, new recreational equipment for existing park, Fantasy Baseball Camp for deaf kids, mentor program, scholarships for disabled children, anti-drug campaign, etc.) To motivate & recruit individuals in the community to become Sertoma Club members. To build a Sertoma Club of concerned citizens to provide sponsorship in order to fulfill the need. Benefits of a Sertoma Club In your Community: Fulfills community needs Provides positive activities in your area Motivates current community leaders and helps identify new leaders Delivers service, friendship, fellowship, and FUN! Charitable tax status Proven fund-raising expertise Professional staff to assist Matching grants Annual recognition events & conventions Personal development opportunities Networking Community recognition |
| The fourth annual Dream Catcher kick off party was a huge success with over one hundred fifty in attendance. The tables and tables of food were unbelievable, and everyone went home full. There was fantastic entertainment from the All Occasion Puppet Show (Patti Pampa 484-786-6479) and a performance from one of the Dream Catcher's supporting organizations, The Wild West Pistoleros. All the students, families and volunteers had a wonderful time. Our lesson season started on September 20th, with a full student enrollment and unfortunately a student waiting list. The Arizona Dream Catcher Equestrian Delegation of seventeen challenged equestrians again participated in Arizona Special Olympics Fall championships held at West World on October 14th. These special equestrians have been training very hard for this competition, and the medals won showed their hard work paid off. The athletes participated in, Trail classes, Showmanship at halter and bridle, English and Western Equitation with all classes divided into four levels ranging fro advanced to leadline. The excitement and determination showed on the faces of the riders and their very special partners, the horses. Groups from all over the state participated; Horses with Heart from Prescott, Blue Ridge Riders from Lake Havasu and others. The Arizona Dream Catcher Equestrians, the largest Special Olympic Equestrian Delegation in the state, believe that competitions like this are a great reinforcer and a way to bring people from all walks of life together to learn from and support these ambitious individuals. Volunteers are critical to making an event like this possible. Our thanks to the wonderful "Dream Keepers", Pinal County 4-H Superstition Secrets Horse group, parents, and the wonderful folks from Phelps that continue to support therapeutic riding programs year after year. |
| If you meet the Buddha, kill him!" This antisocial statement expresses a paradox faced by every successful student regardless of age. The student role demands submission, which is so distasteful to some that it stands forever between them and mastery of anything including their own being. The ability to submit to the will of another is the ability to surrender one's ego or self. Ironically, in the moment that we learn to surrender, we must learn when not to surrender, i.e., when to kill the Buddha. On a Sunday in October of 1998, my companion of one year, Ron, and I did everything we knew to get Marino, my five-year-old Hanoverian gelding, into our horse trailer. The clinic was over and we were tired and ready to go home. For more than an hour, Marino taunted us by walking part way into the trailer only to back out as Ron approached to snap the butt strap in place. Marino was not interested in going home. Without warning, the clinic instructor appeared and matter-of-factly took the whip from Ron, unbeknownst to Marino who stood resolutely refusing to walk up the ramp. Marino continued his in-your-face disobedience making two hula swings with his hips. This arrogance was more than the instructor could swallow. Like a gunshot fired in a quiet Arizona canyon, the sound of the whip articulated the instructor's emotion, "Enough!" The application of the whip was so skilled that the horse did not panic. The instructor never used the whip again, and he never lost his temper. With one crack, he established his presence. From this point on, the instructor was in charge. In one short lesson, this man established his authority with the horse and modified the horse's perception of loading into the trailer. "He has your number, Susan," were the instructor's words to me as he helped me secure the trailer to the truck. Later I would have time to think about what the instructor said. The point he raised was far too important to ignore. Marino, was Fred Astaire with a Harpo Marx personality, but there was the hint of a John-MacEnroe-attitude lurking in the shadows of this horse's mind. Maybe I did not have the wisdom, finesse, or athletic ability to do the job. It was something to think about. Marino unloaded me three times before it came to me that I needed help. In six months, I tried three different professionals, and each one hit the ground faster than her predecessor. The horse was not mean yet; but he was finding that he was in charge when he simply spun out from under every rider who would be his master. Fortunately, a fourth professional knew more than Marino. She was a student of the late Monte Foreman, an icon in the reining world beginning in the 1950's. She taught me to ride Marino's spin which was a beginning, but being able to stay on board was one thing, training Marino to be a dressage horse was something else. As I contemplated my future with Marino, I reflected on what the instructor had done to convince Marino that getting into the trailer was a good idea. Watching the instructor handle Marino was a lesson in the art of establishing authority. He communicated exactly what he expected and the horse delivered, not out of panic, out of respect. The instructor instilled in Marino a belief that things could get worse or they could improve, and the choice was up to Marino. Don Knotts parodied authority when he created the character of Barney Fife on "The Andy Griffith Show." Barney carries his bullet in his shirt pocket and pontificates to anyone who momentarily pauses before him. An "expert" on everything, he expounds on whatever subject catches his attention. He hikes up & his pants, puffs out his chest, and rocks back on his heels; Barney knows what power looks like. We love Barney, but no one wants to be Barney. Authority is about power and control which some see as inherently evil. Certainly power creates opportunity to make dramatic mistakes which may reveal flaws in our character, but without coming to terms with these attributes of authority, we remain ineffectual and half-baked. The source of authority is the Warrior within the person, the Internal Warrior. The Warrior is an archetype, a blueprint that is hard-wired into our brain. The Warrior archetype is the heart of authority. Without the heart, there is a mere shell which convinces neither person nor beast. An underdeveloped or wounded Warrior creates havoc in life because every interaction becomes to some degree a power struggle. The relationships we have with our horses reflect aspects of our character and may teach us about our relationships in general. Everyone has to cultivate his or her own Warrior; one internal Warrior cannot serve two people. Two people sharing a Warrior is not efficiency, it is symbiosis, and we call it dysfunctional. In Eastern philosophy there is a saying, "If you meet the Buddha, kill him." Every rider who finds a knowledgeable instructor grapples with this concept regardless of what she knows of Buddhism. Following any riding instruction blindly without reflection will end in failure regardless of how talented the rider or the instructor. One of the goals of instruction is to teach the individual to think for herself. Being a good student requires a balance between being a sponge and being a Warrior. The art of being a student is a dynamic blend of the two positions. Ultimately, mastery of anything demands that we face ourselves, and this takes courage. If we try and fail, at least we do not have the regret of letting an opportunity slip by us. It is as though honest effort guarantees peace of mind even if we fall short of the goal. Failure to reach the epitome may be sad, but we can heal if we know that we gave it our best shot. To do otherwise leaves a bitter taste that never leaves us. At the beginning of this essay, I quoted my instructor who told me that my horse had me buffaloed. Marino was testing the limits of my authority. Until that day, it was good enough to rely on an expert's Warrior, but as the German homily goes, "Good is the enemy of better," and good was no longer good enough. A borrowed Warrior was an inadequate match for Marino's ability. I had to do more than act like an authority. This meant that if I disagreed with the instructor, I had to discuss my thoughts with him, and honestly consider what he had to say in the context of what I was feeling in the saddle. The surrender required for mastery is the surrender of one's ego to truth or knowledge. It is not a form of hero worship in which the expert is put on a pedestal and obeyed without question. Surrender is acceptance of the idea that all things are possible, if we lay aside the ego-driven agenda. To surrender is to experience moments of truth in which we experience the mystery of life. |
