2020 Team Tate Fund Recipient: Barbara Strawson
Barbara's lesson with George Williams
What a year of highs and lows this has been! The highest high was the honor of receiving the inaugural Team Tate Leadership and Mentorship Grant, awarded to work with my mentor George Williams, to develop leadership and business skills at the Washington Women’s Leadership Summit, and to develop my eye as a professional trainer at the USDF Trainer’s Conference held in Florida.
There is no better way to recap the year than by sharing my recent excitement and honor at being asked by my clothing sponsor, Kerrits Equestrian Apparel, to be a mentor for a new program they support, the Optimum Youth Equestrian Scholarship (OYES). This program, founded by Mandy Collier and her company Optimum Equine, is to "provide opportunities for youth aged 17–27 from marginalized communities to become involved or stay involved in horse sports through financial awards and mentorship focusing not only on horsemanship and equestrian pursuits but also on career planning and education.” I am excited this is such a great fit for one of the long-term goals I outlined in my application, as it’s important to me to be “setting an example and providing mentorship for those younger professionals coming through the ranks.” I am looking forward to working with my first mentee!
Having this year of focusing on mentorship, leadership, and business skills has been rewarding and a growing experience in many ways. I am still completing my Washington Women’s Leadership Summit, which has taken place virtually over the year due to Covid. The monthly sessions will continue through the Spring. I am invited to an in-person weekend, depending on the status of Covid.
As I have been attending the virtual seminars and looking back on my original business goals for 2021, I have been struck with the thought that one can start out with various expectations and a goal to learn a particular thing. Sometimes you learn that specific thing, sometimes not. Ultimately you get what you need, not what you think you need.
My business goals for this year were to learn different aspects of my business more competently, namely sales, marketing, communication (networking and follow-up), and leadership (applying leadership skills in small business, setting an example for small business/women). An individual trainer/instructor running her own business must wear many hats, whereas larger farms/companies have different departments which can handle things such as marketing, accounting, management, etc. It is no surprise that an individual like me has trouble marketing herself! Through the Women’s Leadership Summit, it was wonderful to learn that this is a common dilemma. One of the speakers, Olympic swimmer/medalist Kaitlin Sandeno, discussed this.
In Kaitlin's discussion, she stressed the importance of developing your weaknesses in sports and life. In sports, (including dressage of course) one can improve overall performance while working hard at improving your weakness. However, Kaitlin also pointed out that in some aspects of life, the result of knowing and working on your weaknesses may actually be learning to use resources better and asking for the help you need. So, while one business goal of mine was to improve my sales and marketing skills, the lesson learned here is to accept what I am good at and then be willing and creative enough to use my resources to get help in those areas.
One of my business challenges this year was when I returned from training in Florida and learned that my long-time employee and right-hand man had decided to move on to his next adventure. Juggling all aspects of the business, while having to do the farm and horse care, was more than challenging to say the least. Luckily, I have a wonderful village of supporters who stepped in to help keep everything running. Still, it was a management challenge to coordinate more people doing the work, as well as stepping in to do much of this work, while maintaining horses in training and competition. It was also a challenge to look for and find permanent help.
The seminars offered by the Women’s Leadership Summit offered many timely nuggets of information and hope. One unexpected nugget was advice on handling difficult conversations. Invariably, as the owner and manager of my business, I must have some difficult conversations with people. While this was not one of the goals I had listed at the beginning of the year, it was one of those things I needed to work on, and the lesson came at the right time. We heard from Ingrid Ortega, a compliance officer with Wells Fargo, about preparing for and conducting these conversations. Misty Moon, M. Ed, head of the Red Cross, also spoke on communication and handling these conversations with confidence as well as how to encourage others.
I am really looking forward to my in-person seminar at the Washington Women’s Leadership Summit!
I found that my lessons learned in business often mirror and can be applied to those learned with horses and training. One notable example I learned from Tom Peters, author and founder of Tom Peters Co. His theory, “Excellence is the next five minutes,” is what we live daily on a horse! While excellence in riding is built over countless hours of patience, dedication, and skill building, it is building those five minutes of excellence minute by minute that builds a Grand Prix horse and leads to those five minutes of excellence in the dressage ring. In life, in business, and on a horse, it is the “tiny touches” built into every five minutes that define a successful leader and ultimately successful relationships and a successful business.
Another important piece of advice from Tom Peters is to, “Be Kind,” which to me is essential to apply in training horses. He said, “It’s wonderful and it works." He also said, “Hard is soft, and soft is hard." What wonderful words of wisdom to carry through my daily training on a horse, working with my employees, and working with my students.
I find George Williams, my mentor and trainer, to be a wonderful example of the “Be Kind” method. He has given advice and been supportive through the many ups and downs of 2021. Reflecting on this past year with George, my memory actually takes me back to a moment several years ago when I began to think of George as a mentor. George's advice all those years ago was to train your weaknesses, but when you compete, focus on your strengths and do them to the best of your ability. This piece of advice really stuck with me, and it was at the time that I realized George was invested in my long-term growth. What I find really "cool" is that as you work on your weakness it can become a strength in the ring! With my current mount, Heinemann SBG, the flying changes have been the biggest challenge. When I first competed with him at Third Level, he got 8s on his changes! A similar thing happened when I got my first 10 on a halt on my previous Grand Prix horse Amicelli.
The opportunity to focus on training with George Williams in January and February of 2021 with the Team Tate Fund Grant was an unforgettable and incredible experience. Running a training business at home, as I mentioned, has many challenges. On a day-to-day basis, your focus gets pulled in many directions and it can be difficult to stay on task. Having the opportunity to focus mainly on training helps by leaps and bounds. It is also completely rejuvenating, so I felt like I had more to give back when I got home. In addition, it is a wonderful opportunity to strengthen old relationships and build new relationships and long-lasting friendships. This coincides with one of my business goals of networking. I felt lucky to connect with other trainers on a professional level, other riders on a personal level, and others in the community who are enthusiastic about our sport. One practice I plan to implement is to keep my contact list updated and reach out to new and old contacts.
My training goal for the Florida season was focused development of my horse, Heinemann SBG (aka Heinrich), toward the Grand Prix level. Not only did we work toward Grand Prix, but by the end of the two months, we had touched on training all the pieces of the Grand Prix. At the end of the two months, it was very clear to me that Heinemann is capable of all the Grand Prix exercises that will be expected of him. While he is nowhere near ready to compete in the Grand Prix, he was very close to competing in Prix St. Georges when I left Florida. We went to Florida having finished a season competing at Third Level and ready to train harder on the tempi changes, piaffe, passage, and pirouettes. Excitingly, he shows a talent for it all. The flying changes are the most challenging, but we were able to address our four and three tempi changes. So I know we will be able to do the rest (especially since we can get unsolicited one tempis)!
We also competed in two shows, one of my listed goals. The first was at White Fences and the second at the Global Dressage Festival. The goal for these two shows was not only to expose Heinemann to different venues, but to hone our communication in the ring. I wanted to work out a few kinks we had experienced at Second and Third Level so that when we started in the FEI ring in the summer, we were ready to focus on the FEI tests, not on improved communication and respect in the ring.
One of my biggest lessons from George this season was learned during my first competition. Again, this was not a lesson I expected but one I obviously needed. On my first day, we had an awesome ride, with a win at 75%. The next day we weren’t as successful with a much lower score. I was actually surprised because while I was disappointed at the feeling, I didn’t think it was that drastically different.
When George and I were able to do our ‘debriefing’ on the competition, I said to George, "What do you think happened? Did I ride that much differently?" He said, “Yes, you did.” My jaw dropped a bit, but once I picked it up, I was able to hear what George had to say.
Here is the lesson I learned: Have Complete Confidence in Your Horse!!
George explained it further, saying, “You have to have complete confidence in your horse. You can’t be worried about him - you need to ride with complete confidence that your horse can do the job. You can’t worry about his health or his ability or anything.”
I responded, “What made you think I was worried about him or not trusting him?”
George replied, “Well, you said so in the warm-up.”
Me, in total surprise, "What??"
George, in his calm, patient way explained, “Yes, you said in your warm-up that since it was so hot, you were worried about his breathing and hoped that he would be ok in the test.”
What a simple but totally revealing observation George made. And I knew he was right. I was almost embarrassed that I didn’t even realize it.
This was such a huge lesson, and I was determined not to let it happen again. The final show at Global was challenging because of the big atmosphere, the heat (which was hotter than the previous show), etc. I was determined not to let those things bother me. Of course, having complete confidence in my horse made all the difference in consistency! I had two great rides and wins, and I was ecstatic at ending the Florida season this way.
In addition to our training rides, it was very important to me to have the opportunity to watch George teach and train – this is invaluable for my own training and teaching. It is not just the exercises and tools that I learned from George. I loved to see the humor and camaraderie that he forms with all of his students. In addition, all of his regular Florida clients totally welcomed me and went out of their way to make me feel like part of their group.
One more really important thing that stands out about George is his love of horses. He truly, truly loves them and you can see that in his every interaction with them. Every lesson he would have his own conversations with Heinemann and sometimes they even "texted" with each other!
Heinemann is very talented, and not only would he text George about his lessons, but he wrote a diary about his whole Florida experience. If you would like to hear more about our grand adventures and training exercises, you can read Heinemann’s Diary here.
The training was so amazing and I made so many good friends, it was sad to go back home! But thanks to so many supportive friends, clients, and family at home I was able to take the opportunity AND had many wonderful things to look forward to back home.
However, as I mentioned before, you don’t always get what you want. It’s hard to imagine that about six weeks after I arrived home, Heinemann came up lame. We had several vet visits through the summer to diagnose the problem, culminating in a treatment procedure in September. I am glad to say the prognosis is very good and he is on his way to full recovery. With time and strength, I am confident he will pick up where he left off, and hopefully, some of the training exercises (namely the changes) will be easier for him. I always look for the silver lining. Through it all, George was great support and a sounding board. I am truly grateful to have him as a mentor and look forward to the coming year.
And remember the saying I keep mentioning - "You get what you need, not what you want?" The other silver lining to Heinrich’s lay-up was that it gave me more time to focus on my upcoming horse, Wooden Nickle, though both boys get jealous when I spend time with the other one!
Through the many challenges of the past year – Covid, lame horses, staffing changes to name a few – I can be thankful for the support of many people such as my mentor, George. The Team Tate Fund Grant provided an anchor to help me focus and make use of many tools to help me embrace each challenge head-on. This was such an unexpected benefit of the year, and I am excited for the future recipients. The experience I gained through meeting the challenges of 2021 has helped me to be a better leader in my small business. I am looking forward to being a mentor where I will have a chance to pass on these insights.
I am still looking forward to completing some of the items included in the grant. Because of the intensity of training in Florida, we didn’t complete all of Heinemann’s training sessions. We look forward to using the remaining sessions this summer with George. I am hoping to attend the trainer’s conference or another professional seminar to develop my eye as soon as there is one available. And I am looking forward to the in-person Washington Women’s Leadership Summit in the Spring. Stay tuned for another update!
I wish the 2022 recipient of the Team Tate Mentorship and Leadership Fund Grant a rewarding experience like I had!
