The 5 habbits of a highly succesfull competitor

I’ll never be able to beat Ben Hall. He follows cattle all day for a living. Its the cattle he follows every day that makes him the best. How many times have you heard those statements? Blokes like Ben, Will Durkin and countless others that tail cattle all day are naturally going to have an edge in the Campdraft arena and cutting horse trainers like Aaron Wheatley or Todd Graham are going to have a similar advantage in the cutting ring. This is hardly new news, so what am I getting at here you ask? The average competitor must take measures to bridge the gap created by the lifestyle we don’t live and it all comes down to what we do and think about on a regular basis that will make the compound affect in the long run. The greats of the industry do simple but hard things that set them apart from the rest. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many of the top trainers throughout the cow horse industry and it’s evident that their achievements aren’t a mistake or chance. More to the point it’s a set of habits that they have honed over a lifetime of learning that makes them exceptional and highly successful. This list contains 5 common habits that the best of the best use on a daily basis to become the highly successful competitors they are. If you want to be better in your chosen discipline, you need only mimic excellence.

1. 1. Work on your craft every day-There’s 7 days in a week, what’s your excuse? Beginning with the most universal law of the world. A habit that is practiced by all the greats in every industry, from Usain Bolt to Tiger Woods and from Elon Musk to Pete Cominskey. Hard work beats talent every time and no days off is the best way to do it. What does this mean for the cow horse industry? It means if you’re not out there practicing every day then how can you hope to beat the experts on a more than blue moon basis? That’s not every other day except Friday and Sunday either. The best of the best are in the saddle, every day until they can’t stand the sight of another horse. If you haven’t been finding at least an hour or two daily to practice your craft then you are doomed to a life of donation.
   2. Strive to Learn something new every day-“Be Forever a student”-Peter Boulton. In a world full of average people the great’s shine brighter because of their insatiable hunger for knowledge. Crack open any top tier trainers DVD draw and you’ll find nothing but John Wayne and Ian Francis, hell it might even be playing on loop when you roll into the loungeroom. “There are too many people that win one big novice and never go to another clinic again”- Peter Bolton. The take away from this is simply, the best are never satisfied that they know enough and they’ll always be the first one to attend a clinic or prick an ear when someone they admire is talking.
   3. Don’t be afraid to sell a horse-“If you don’t love him, someone else will”-Ben Hall What are the chances that the first horse you ever own is going to be the best fit for you as a rider? Or even a decent horse for that matter? There are estimated to be over 60 Million horses in the world and in a world full of Magicool and Chevin Ivory’s, old Blue might not cut it. The best are willing to take stock on their horses and keep turning them over until they find the one that clicks with them, they are honest with themselves if their horse is failing to stick to the program. I’m not saying that every time you run into a drama you should sell your horse but just keep in the back of your mind that they are all for sale… until they aren’t, you’ll know when you get the one.
   4. Buy a horse that is good despite you, not because of you- Its hard enough without turning the difficulty up, the best horse trainers know that starting with a horse that has good conformation, a sound mind and sound breeding is %70 of the battle. Breeding isn’t all that matters, but ducks breed ducks as the saying goes (in saying that, I wouldn’t mind a duck or two on my truck). The sale prices at the Tamworth Classic continue to soar for barely broken 2 year olds, the question isn’t, “Why is this the case?” It’s “How do I afford one?” Because the worst kept secret of horse training is, start with a good one. If you want to stick it with the best you either need to pony up the cash or buy them young before anyone knows how good they are.
   5. Staying fit definitely helps- Fitness isn’t exactly the first thing that springs to mind when you think of a horse trainer. However the more serious the industry gets, the more prepared the trainers are becoming. Todays trainer is moving slowly from the Shane Warne of old to a more prepared and more physically and mentally fit individual. If you aren’t setting aside a bit of time each day to work on your fitness that someone else is, it might just give them the %1 they needed to beat you.

The Horse trainers and leading competitors have and always will continue to evolve and shape the way they go about their excellence. It is by watching what they do as industry leaders that we, the average competitor can attempt to achieve some of what they have.

Just to revisit the points and spell them out more clearly, we as the average competitor should be training every day if not every other day, striving always to seek out the knowledge that is available to us, sell a horse or two if they aren’t getting with the program, start a horse that is bred and built to do the job and finally stay off the beers and for god sakes go for a run, it wont kill you I’m sure of it.