Learning from the Guru - Fallon Taylor Clinic

Some of you may know I'm a huge Fallon Taylor fan. Those of you who don't know who she is, she's a world champion barrel racer with a crazy group of followers she calls her 'Flomies'....(her horses name is BabyFlo). I was recently lucky enough to audit her clinic in Ellensburg, WA. I learned lots of different drills and corrections for a horse on the barrel pattern, but I feel like I took away so much more than that. We were able to ask Fallon lots of questions, and she had so many great answers. Someone asked 'How do you know when you're ready to compete at the pro level?' to which she answered something like 'You aren't. You're never really ready. You just have to do it, fail at it, and fail over and over until you have a breakthrough. Most of us wait until we get broke up with, get fired, or almost die before we make major changes and chase our dreams. Don't wait for that. Do it now".

From someone who lost her world, the love of her life, and the man who means more to her than anything...she's right. It took losing Chad to make me realize how precious time is. We all spend so much time waiting for the right opportunity, the right time, the right moment...I think she's right. We're never really ready. But even if we go out there and try we're closer than the person living the mediocre life they hate, and talking about what they want to do or wish they could do. Here's the thing about the sport of rodeo. Not everyone makes it. Not everyone will be a world champion. Not everyone will make it to the NFR. But heres the thing: someone has too. And it might take putting all your cards on the table and everything on the line to get there. Another thing Fallon said during her clinic that stuck with me was her response to someone asking 'How do you find balance in your life, you do so many things!'. To this she answered something along the lines of 'There is no balance. When you're trying to do something as crazy as making the NFR, everything is going to be heavily weighted towards achieving your goal. It might seem selfish, you might miss out on birthdays and family events and holidays, and you might have to sacrifice other things you like to do. But big goals don't allow room for balance'.

So, call me crazy. I'm close to 30, and I don't own anything besides my horses and my horse trailer. But thats a choice. If I wanted a family and a house and a reliable job, I'd live my life differently. But what I want is pretty extreme, its a pretty lofty goal to want to win the world in the barrel racing. Is it guaranteed? Nope. Do I have the horse to get there right now? Not yet. But I recently saw a quote that said 'logic doesn't create magic'....maybe the logical decision is what you want...and if it is, you go girl! But for me, I want that crazy out there give it all you got dream more than anything. So the journey begins.