A million years ago when I was young and adorable I attended USDF’s Young Rider Graduate Program, a two-day conference on how to be an adult in the horse business. It was a very informative weekend, with speakers on a huge range of subjects from professional liability to marketing to sponsorship, and one of the speakers was Jane Forbes Clark, who is a major player in ownership of team horses across several disciplines.One of her pieces of advice on how to attract sponsors was to read, or listen to, the daily news. She encouraged us all to be able to talk about things other than horses, to have an engaged mind across a broader pool of subjects than just our profession.
It’s good advice on a sponsorship front, but I remember hearing it and thinking that it was good advice on how to not to chew off your own arm as a horse trainer. Life with these easily injured and chronically frustrating creatures can tear your heart apart, and if you’ve got nothing else, then you’ve got nothing else.
Read the rest at The Chronicle of the Horse!