Vol 6 No 5

Letter from the Editor

Dear Golden State Members,

Many of our fellow competitors will be traveling this month to Guthrie, Oklahoma for “The Gathering”, the National Ranch and Stock Horse Association World Show. We wish each and every one of them safe travels, good cattle, precise runs, great success, and lots of fun. After all, when it’s all said and done, enjoying what we do is paramount!

Golden State members who will be attending are:

Don’t be shy! Send pictures for the web site upgrade! Read on for details.

Good news, sort of, regarding the Horse Protection Act is covered in this issue. Remember to let your voice be heard.

In this issue, Superstar Sandy Collier teaches us the wisdom of positive self-talk.

The Way-Out West Show was way cool and just gets better and better. Pictures and results follow.

At one point, this editor took a hiatus from riding (what was I thinking?) and showed dogs for a time. The meme below reminds me of when I was questioned by my coach in all things dog, “did you just cluck at your dog to get him to move?” Uh, yes, guilty as charged. (He did move . . . .)

Sincerely,

Dawn Poston
Editor

Send comments, concerns, & ideas to JumperDawn@aol.com

Golden State Web Site Upgrade

We Need Your Help

We are upgrading our web site, gsvrha.org and need your help! We will be replacing all our photos on the various pages and in the gallery with current photos. Please send us one or two of your best photos. We’re particularly looking for action shots but those pictures that reflect the culture and community of versatility are also wanted. There will be other new features as well.

Send Your Favorite VRH Photo to: JumperDawn@aol.com

Horse Protection Act

Delayed Until 2026

The USDA has delayed the enforcement of the new Horse Protection Act rule until February 2026. Western Justice reports that this is not a victory for horsemen and women, it’s a countdown.

There’s a lot at stake. The future of horse shows for starters. The livelihood of families and trainers. Due process from vague, one-sided regulations that has the possibility of being used against all of us.

What can we do? Sign the petition at https://www.ruralamericainaction.com/petition/stop-the-horse-protection-act. Send a personal letter to your elected representative at https://www.westernjustice.info/hpa-take-action. It’s easy and with “Civiclick” it only takes two minutes!

Join Western Justice, they’re doing the heavy lifting on this deal. Tell your friends to do all of the above. We must be heard!

Every Discipline Has Something They Do Best!

Golden State Members Have Fun in the Sun!

• Learn to wrap your horse’s legs from Dressage riders.
• Learn to do your hair up (in a hat or helmet) from Hunter riders.
• Learn to make quick decisions from Jumper riders.
• Learn to multi-task from Equitation riders.
• Learn to care for expensive tack from Western Pleasure riders.
• Learn to have good timing from Ropers.
• Learn courage, in the face of the long way home, from trail riders.
• Learn to trust your horse from 3 Day Event riders.
• Learn how to go from zero to 60; Ranch Riding to Cow Horse, learn to do five separate events, learn to be tired and keep going, and learn to have the most amount of fun one can have on a horse from VERSATILITY RIDERS.

Finally, learn to appreciate a degree of insanity from all of them!

Sandy Collier Wisdom

“Feast” On Our Good Runs

I was recently playing pickleball with a friend who is far better than I am at the game and when I’d hit a really good shot she’d holler, “feast on that one Sandy!” What she meant was not to pat myself on the back, but rather to savor the feel of the shot, replay the way it felt when the ball left my paddle, hear the sound it made, the effortlessness of it. So, I actually started to take a moment when I hit an exemplary shot (though they were rare) and recreate it in my head, my body, in my self-talk. I’d even start telling myself “Hey, if you got that almost impossible ball and returned a great shot once, you can do it again! And guess what? I did. I started hitting more and more good shots!

Taking that to our riding lives, when you execute a great stop or turn on the fence or have a higher scoring run than usual, take a moment to “feast” on it. It’s been proven that it takes 30-60 seconds of savoring a moment to create a pathway that can be followed internally to duplicate that more and more often, in other words to make it “stick”.

Likewise, if we mess something up, “Forget about it”. We don’t want to deepen that moment into a rut in our subconscious by ruminating on it and having that be what “sticks”. It’s fine to be honest with ourselves though, if we understand what didn’t go well and replace it with what we’ll do better next time. That’s what the great tennis players do when they miss a shot. You’ll see them swing their racket a time or two like they should have to “replace” the error with the correct stroke. If we dwell on the error, we just make it stronger in our subconscious rather than making the desired motion get more firmly entrenched. So, forget about those errors or better yet replace them and feast on those good ones for a minute to make them stick!

Way Out West Just Gets Better

WOW!

Such a fun show, it’s hard to know where to begin. The prizes always steal the show, but hey, the cattle were good, the Troy Jensen and Ann Dennis clinics were very informative, the party owner Shane Parsons put on Friday night was scrumptious. Having the Trail class out in a large grassy field was such a nice change from inside an arena. A good warm up for Guthrie in May. A really fun side feature was a Vaquero Roping in the indoor. What a great group of people. Families were camped, there were campfires, barbecues, lots of kids, and good clean fun. The roping competition was fascinating and fun to watch between VRH classes.

Golden State Results:

Quote of the Month