Rise Above it
In every community I’ve ever seen, there is a direct correlation between sustained success in the show ring and an increase of trash talk. Guess what, the species shown is irrelevant in this formula.
A little girl can have the champion goat, lamb or steer and the whole community rallies around her and her family.
She is so cute out in the show ring and everyone is so happy for the newcomer. If she is successful the next year, most people are still happy for her.
However, if she has the audacity to continue for the third year…the family must be doing something wrong.
WHAT?
Apparently, if the little girl is accidentally successful, we are happy for her. If she continues to grow and get better over time, we want to take it away from her. This does not happen in any other sport.
Yep, I said sport. If a kid puts in hours to master his layup or goes to a pitching coach, do we discredit his success? No! You just hope he’s on your team!
While I waited in line to wash my hands in the lady’s room at a big county fair I listened to three girls run their mouths about the gal who’d just won the lamb show. She’d done so for the 4th year in a row.
Those girls verbally ran her into the dirt. You’d think she was the richest, rudest, most spoiled kid to walk since Paris Hilton.
Have you ever witnessed this conversation?
Here is the fact, because I knew her. My brother helped her and you wouldn’t come across a humbler, more hard-working, passionate showman.
Oh, and she was kind of shy and mostly only bought the green lambs out of the same public sales everyone else attended.
Want to know something else about her? Anyone who had enough confidence to walk up and ask for her help was met with a smile and absolutely…she’d help them.
Do you suppose these girls ever bothered to say one word to that gal? Do you think they came up with this trash talk all on their own? No, it was modeled for them by the jealous adults in the community.
Listen, I’ve done it too.
Even today, I have to tell the person staring at me in the mirror that the gals who beat me showing my cow horses do so because they are committed. They are riding while I’m at work, at cattle shows or watching my boys play sports.
I used to tell myself that if I could have my horse at a trainer, I could beat them. I had to train my own horses, which put me at a disadvantage. That’s why they beat me. True? Probably not. And I know better!!!
To truly excel at anything, you have to be all in…
To truly excel at anything, you have to be all in…so why would I have the nerve to criticize? Jealousy. It’s one of the ugliest qualities a person can have and it’s toxic.
I wish I knew who said this, so I could give them the proper credit and I may misquote it. If you know, I’d love for you to tell me:
“Hang out with champions, the conversation is different.”
– Unknown
Do you know what champions talk about?
- What they need to do differently to get even better.
- Gratefulness for those who helped them to where they are.
- Genetics of livestock that are helping them be successful, what’s working and what’s not…
- Comparing techniques that make them successful.
Conversely, those who are jealous of champions say things like:
“They just buy their champions.”
“They are cheating.”
“She didn’t even have her goat at her house.”
“If I had their money, I could win the show too.”
“I don’t know what they are doing, but it can’t be ethical.”
“His cattle wouldn’t win if they didn’t have hair.”
Be honest with yourself, do you trash talk?
Maybe everyone around you was saying it, so you joined in. Seemed like the thing to do?
And by the way, p
Compare the conversations from the two groups and decide where you want to be. Do you want to wade through the muck of negativity?
It’s for sure easier. It doesn’t require you to step out of your comfort zone at all. It doesn’t require any change or work on your part. Is that where you want to be?
Yep, getting a little preachy in this post.
I’ve seen good kids get run through the muck and I’ve seen good people join in on the trash talk for my whole show career.
I now have a platform to spread positivity and I’m going to use it. Rise above it! Here is some tough love, because I love this industry and I think we can do better.
Very few of us were lucky enough to be born into families who were livestock savvy. Even then, don’t get it twisted…those who are born into savvy families will truly succeed only if they want to learn.
I’ll ask again…Where do you want to be? If you are at your fair, a jackpot or even a major, identify what those who are successful are doing and do it. Find someone you admire and emulate them in your own way.
Figure it out…
Don’t know how to clip? Figure it out. There are so many more resources available to people today than there ever have been. Don’t know how to feed? Figure it out. Talk to expert feeders, feed reps or anyone who knows what they are talking about. Don’t know how to evaluate? Figure it out. Sit ringside at a show and actually listen to the guy on the mic. He is telling you right there how to evaluate…for free!
Success in this industry is simple…but it’s not easy.
Success comes from hours of dedication, of living and breathing it. Just like the kid who never misses from the free-throw line. Talent? Absolutely, but it’s the dedication to the game that makes him truly spectacular.
If you wouldn’t think to criticize the basketball player, why would you do it to the family who opts to spend their free time in the pursuit of success in the show ring?
Expect more from yourself and those around you. Be the leader. Don’t allow that kind of negativity in your presence. Don’t allow the trash talk.
Change, in this case, is a grass-roots deal. If every community across the nation bred positivity at the smallest shows, which spread to the regional shows, by the time you get to the major and national shows, everyone in attendance would be having the kinds conversations you find among the champions.
Be among the champions, regardless if you get the slap or the handshake at the end of the show.
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