Time sure flies, but things are getting back to normal. The star of the upcoming movie "the Greening of Whitney Brown", Odd Job Bob is here at Liberty Horse Ranch. We're getting ready for his movie debut. We've been doing a lot of training. Chantal put together the daily training program and it has been working out well. The interns are loving it here. We get to train, ride and take care of the horses in the morning, have lunch, then have off until 5p to avoid the heat, then back to work with the horses until sunset at 8p. We absolutely love it here, there is so much potential to do so much with the horses. It is always a lot of work moving to a new place. Not to mention trying to get a new hay supplier, shavings, grain, farrier, vet and tack store. I've already walked out of one feed store because of poor service. The lady wanted to know why I wanted to see the feed before I bought it. She said I couldn't open the bags, but there may be a few broken bags back there to look at. I had to walk myself to the back to the where the feed was kept. The guys in the back were great. They let me look at the feed and told me all about what they carried. The filled me in on what was good for hay around here as well. So, I was feeling pretty good until I walked up to the front counter again. The lady was looking down and ignored me until I said "hello?" She then said "well, how many do you want?". Now I don't ask for much, but I asked her if that is how she treats all her customers. She said yes, so I told her I couldn't do business with someone who doesn't want my business. I went to the next store and to my surprise, I found a mom and daughter who went out of their way to show me the feed and tell me about their business. They asked me about my horses which means they are interested in helping me.  It was a breath of fresh air to do business with someone who takes the time to care about me and my horses. I then got a call from our neighbor who was looking for hay as well. She got a few quotes, but said that one store she went in the lady wouldn't tell her the price unless she ordered it, since the prices change all the time.  What?  Guess which store it was? I'll give you 3 guesses, but you'll only need one. Again, this person may just be a clerk and doesn't understand people, but when I have a choice of who I do business with, I'm going to choose the place that I like and feel comfortable at. You don't have to roll out the red carpet or follow me around the store, but what I do care about is service and feeling welcome. The good thing about our new place is that I do have other places to go and there is a lot of options. 
I didn't want this to be a gripe session, I just want people to realize that the attitude they have reflects what they get back. It happens all the time in horse training. If you don't appreciate your horse or go at it half-heartedly, your horse will lose interest in you and won't work for you. When it's time to work, pay attention to your horse 100% and you will get 1000% more in return. If only the clerk understood that. Ride Fast... Take Chances! tommie