Kiger Horse Training

09/14/2024

09/10/2024

Happy Fall from The Kiger Ranch

08/14/2024

Seriously dude!!!!

07/13/2024

Stop sacking out and over desensitizing c**ts....I know it's an unpopular opinion but we would rather start a c**t that's not halter broke then a c**t that's dead to anything and everything around them why? They're dangerous when they have temper tantrums, when they get pushed past their limits in training and the list goes on. All you're making in some cases is a heartless spoiled brat that's no good under pressure. I don't care about the gimmicks of noodles and tarps, leaf blowers etc. It doesn't make for a gentle c**t...I want a c**t to move off my energy, my body language and not jump in my lap in times of stress. 9 times out of 10 you're making c**ts worse by tinkering with them yourself and over desensitizing.

07/12/2024

To the trainers who are trying their best—remember:

Not every horse will leave your facility in a place where you feel 100% confident in where they are at with their training.

Not every horse will “make it” at the level your customer expects.

Not every customer will be able to continue a horse’s training the way that you would have.

Not every customer will take the time to learn how to use their horse to its full potential.

Not every customer will give you the opportunity to spend the time you need to make a horse truly great.

Not everyone will appreciate your approach, or understand your training philosophy.

But, also remember that…

There will be plenty of great customers who appreciate your perspective and program.

There will be many wonderful people with talented horses that will cross your path.

There will someday be an opportunity to ride that once-in-a-lifetime horse that you will get to put your mark on.

There will be ample opportunities to educate and empower your customers to reach their full potential with their horses.

There will be plenty of happy people who give you a call to tell you about all the success they are having with their horses.

There will be endless opportunities to feel grateful and blessed about the people and horses you get to work with everyday.

The strongest asset you can have as a horse trainer is perspective. Focus on the good, and the good gets better.

06/25/2024

🐴 Aquí hay 15 hechos interesantes sobre el cerebro de un caballo:

1. El cerebro de un caballo es relativamente pequeño comparado con el tamaño de su cuerpo, y representa sólo alrededor del 0,1 % de su peso total.

2. A pesar de su pequeño tamaño, los caballos tienen cerebros muy complejos, con una corteza cerebral altamente desarrollada, la parte del cerebro responsable del pensamiento consciente, la toma de decisiones y la memoria.

3. Los caballos pueden aprender y recordar tareas complejas, como navegar por un curso de salto o realizar una rutina de doma, a través de un proceso llamado aprendizaje asociado.

4. Como los humanos, los caballos tienen un hemisferio izquierdo y un hemisferios derecho en el cerebro, cada uno con funciones especializadas. El hemisferio izquierdo es responsable del procesamiento de la información lógica y analítica, mientras que el hemisferio derecho está más involucrado en el procesamiento emocional y el pensamiento creativo.

5. Los caballos tienen una gran memoria y pueden recordar personas, lugares y experiencias concretas durante muchos años.

6. Los caballos pueden aprender por observación, y a menudo pueden adquirir nuevos comportamientos y habilidades simplemente observando a otros caballos o humanos.

7. Los caballos tienen un sentido del tacto muy sensible y pueden detectar incluso la más mínima presión o movimiento en su piel. Esto les ayuda a responder a las sutiles señales de tu motorista o guía.

8. Los caballos pueden procesar información visual muy rápida y precisa, permitiéndoles evitar posibles peligros y navegar por su medio ambiente con facilidad.

9. Los caballos son animales sociales y dependen de la comunicación no verbal para interactuar con otros caballos de su manada. Esta comunicación es facilitada por el cerebro del caballo, que puede interpretar cambios sutiles en el lenguaje corporal, expresiones faciales y vocalizaciones.

10. En última instancia, como todos los animales, los caballos tienen una personalidad única y rasgos individuales que se moldean por sus experiencias, genética y entorno, todo lo cual se refleja en su función cerebral y comportamiento.

11. Los caballos tienen un fuerte sentido del olfato y su bulbo olor, que procesa los olores, es relativamente grande comparado con otras partes de su cerebro.

12. El cerebro, que es responsable de coordinar el movimiento y el equilibrio, también es relativamente grande en caballos. Esto se debe a que los caballos deben ser capaces de moverse rápida y eficientemente para escapar de los depredadores o navegar por terrenos difíciles.

13. Los caballos tienen un umbral de dolor muy alto, que se cree que está relacionado con cómo sus cerebros procesan las señales de dolor. Aunque esto puede ser beneficioso en algunas situaciones, también puede significar que los caballos no muestran signos obvios de dolor, lo que hace más difícil para sus cuidadores detectar y tratar los problemas de salud subyacentes.

14. El hipocampo, una parte del cerebro involucrado en el aprendizaje y la memoria, está particularmente bien desarrollado en caballos. Esto les permite recordar no sólo experiencias concretas, sino también conceptos y patrones generales que pueden aplicar a nuevas situaciones.

15. Finalmente, los estudios han demostrado que los caballos, como otros animales, son capaces de experimentar emociones como el miedo, la felicidad y la ira. Se cree que estas emociones están mediadas por el sistema límbico, un grupo de estructuras cerebrales interconectadas que juegan un papel clave en la regulación del estado de ánimo y el comportamiento .

04/30/2024

“What bit can I use to make my horse stop better?”

Snaffle.

“But my horse doesn’t listen in a snaffle. I need something to bigger I think to get his attention”

Snaffle.

“Won’t a bigger bit help my horse listen more?”

No.

“Well I tried a bigger bit and he stops better so that must be the answer”

Snaffle.
Snaffle.
Snaffle.

I’m all about riding a finished horse in a leverage bit. If they’re ready for it. Fact of the matter is, lots of folks think bigger bits are for horses that don’t “listen”, when in actuality they are for horses who listen well! Snaffle bits never lie. If you can’t ride your horse in a snaffle with light responsiveness, then you need to take a step back and work on the training, not change the bit. If you just change the bit, it may work some in the short term, but soon you’ll be looking an even bigger one because you never solved the problem you just put a band aid on it. The horse still doesn’t know how to give to pressure. The answer is more wet saddle pads and some lessons probably. Bigger bits are for well developed horses and riders. 🙌🏼

12/09/2023

Life is lovely on the Kiger Ranch

12/06/2023

Good morning Strawberry Plains -

10/08/2023

This is so very true. Some things I’m still learning. Here’s to 2023

For my fellow barn owners/ trainers out there!

Lessons learned long and hard in the horse business as a professional..

1. It's easy to fall in love with your customers. They become a family who you spend a lot of time with. However, in the end they will do what's best for themselves. And, for you and them, those paths may not be the same. Prepare to get your heart broken. Keep business and personal relationships separate.

2. People will not always trust in your experience and will second guess you. They will think they know better because they read it in a book, or saw it online. Don't try to be all things to all people. Do what you are good at. Run your barn in a way that you can sleep at night knowing that you did right in your mind by them and their horses. The clients opinion of that may be different than your beliefs, but you have to live with choices that leave you at peace. That may mean confrontation, hard conversations and even asking people to move on for your own peace.

3. Horses are easy 99% of the time. It's the people who come with them that make things complicated.

4. Remember that horses need to be horses.

5. People will always judge you, and have opinions. The better you are, the more haters will have opinions.

6. Success isn't measured by ribbons and show placings. It's measured in happy animals and the quality of their lives.

7. There is always an exception or quirk that doesn't " follow the rules" in horse care. Do what works, not what the books say works.

8. When you get annoyed by seeing somebody's car pull in to the barn, it's time to let that person move on. Your barn should be a happy place. It literally only takes one bad sour apple to ruin the whole atmosphere and dynamic in a barn.

9. Let it go.... if someone moves on don't be upset by it. Ignore what they say. Don't take it personally. Every barn is not a good fit for every person.

10. This is a business. If a person or horse isn't working for you, or the compensation isn't offsetting your cost, it's time for them to go. The exception to this is your retired horses, see #11.

11. Horses only have so many jumps, so many runs, so many rides. Don’t waste your horses. Teach your students they aren’t machines. You owe it to your retired horses to have a safe, comfortable and dignified end. Your schoolies worked for you. When the time comes they can no longer do that, either give them a pleasant retirement, or put them in the ground where you know they are safe. Do not dump them at auctions or onto other people where you are not 100% sure that they will be cared for.

12. There is no shame in euthanasia for a horse owner. Always better a week too early then a second too late. Do not judge anyone for their reasons for doing this.

13. Most clients fall Into two categories. Those who are "high maintenance", open in their opinions and will confront situations head on. The second is the quiet type who will not say a word and will not openly talk with you about their expectations or issues. You have no idea they have a problem until it's too late. The people in between these two are the clients you want. They will be long term and make life easy.

14. Know your worth. KNOW YOUR WORTH. Your time and experience has a monetary value. Don't do things for free, even if you like the person. Every bit of time or effort you give to clients has value. So when you don't value your effort, neither will a client. They will come to expect "freebies", which always leads to resentment from someone.

15. Be honest. It's not always easy. But in this business it takes forever to build reputation and seconds to destroy it.

16. Remember horses are dangerous. Always use your best judgment and air on the side of caution when working with horses and students. Their lives and your own life can change in an instant.

17. Get paid up front. Keep good records. People don't go to the grocery store and ask for food they will pay for next week. Good business practices keep everyone honest and sets boundaries for clients.

18. Normalize passing on price increases. Service industries, especially ones like ours always "feel guilty " when raising prices. You are not there to subsidize someone else's horse habit. Prices have been going up on costs, so should your fees.

19. The buck stops with you. Your employees mistakes fall back to your responsibility. Always verify and check on important care aspects of daily activities.

20. Make time for family and rest. Too many of us get burnt out from the stress of expectations in this industry. In the end, boarders and students come and go. Your family is who you will have left.

Thanks for reading my thoughts. I hope it can help support some of you feeling burnt out, and maybe help some people who are starting out in their journey into this industry.

Written by Rhea Distefano

08/22/2023

Borrowed from another post!

AN IDEA FOR A NEW FACEBOOK CHALLENGE

This was inspired by a poor fellow who had the misfortune of posting a c**t’s “first ride” video. There were 368 comments from outraged keyboard Karen’s. The complaints? He mounted from the ground! Bwhahahahaha!! Apparently this causes irreversible damage to uhhh something on the horse. Some were enraged because he wore spurs, others upset because he DIDN’T have spurs. Some cried tears because he rode with a halter and lead rope others had heart palpitations because of the evil bit he used! You see my point, the ridiculous contradictions made it abundantly clear none of them had a clue what they were watching.
The new challenge is this—before you can comment on a training video you must start 10 random c**ts yourself. But you have to do it trainer style, ie you HAVE to ride EVERY horse brought to you. You don’t get to skip the ones that make you pucker and blame some past life trauma for their behavior. You must deal with it. You do it with no health insurance when they fall down or dump you on your head. You can try and go slow while people who are already two months behind paying you blast you on Facebook because you’ve had their spoiled turd for two weeks and he’s not changing leads and sliding yet like the last guy promised. You must sacrifice watching your kids school event and your spouse’s birthday party because you’re at the barn putting in the crazy amount of time it takes to turn these youngsters into horses while some crazy lady who spent spring break riding on her aunts farm 30 years ago calls you an evil, inhumane master of torture because she knows.
You must complete this challenge without ending up in the hospital or psyche ward, no copious amounts of alcohol or Prozac, murderous urges towards the general public and minimal thoughts of su***de. Then AND ONLY THEN can you comment on horse training threads

07/28/2023

Copied from someone:

Appreciate your trainer.

They spend way more hours at work than you could even imagine. They are here six if not seven days a week every week. They work holidays. They work weekends. And just because their office is outside and they get to be surrounded by beautiful animals the whole time does not mean they aren’t working. The barn to you is your sanctuary. It’s your escape. It’s your place to vent. Your place to relax. Your place to unwind. That is not what the barn is to them. While they have moments of serenity when everything is quiet, this is still their job. they are still on the clock. They still need to be on their game. Always.

Their job is not just riding. They deal with all of you every day. Long before and long after they have come and gone from the barn. During dinners. During drinks with friends. During family time. On days off. They are here for you.

They care. They care more than you could ever know. Each and every horse is a part of their soul. They know their mannerisms. They meticulously watch their weight, their movement, monitor what they eat and how much of it, how much they work, whether they are happy doing their job, and how to make them go in a way that pleases you without jeopardizing them. They stay up late with them if they are sick. They write down every time they batted an eyelash wrong. And they remember what they need when.

They take pride in them going well for you. They listen to every flaw you find with them, even if it is in fact your flaw, and try to help them do their job better. When you are unhappy with how they go, they strive to never let it happen again, even if your expectations are unreasonable. They bend over backwards to make your horse perfect, even if what you’re asking for is a horse without spirit, or personality. They stand up for them when they can, trying their best not to make you upset in the process. They are their life’s work, and they know them inside and out.

They listen to you. Whether you are rational or not. They remain calm when you bring the stress of your day job to the barn and take it all out on your horse and on us. They pick up the pieces when you’ve been unforgiving with your horse, who was simply surprised by your lack of patience after a long day. They are your rock, your shoulder to cry on, and your horses.

When they go home, they still reply to your texts and your emails and your calls. They are never off the clock. They take in stride as best we can your rants of frustration when your horse or your riding isn’t exactly where you want it to be exactly when you want it. They take the blame. For you. For your horse. For everything.

And yet here they are. Still showing up. Still being here for you. For your horse. No matter how you treat them. Regardless of whether you deserve them. They are here.

07/17/2023

For all of my friends that own, train, or care for horses. This is a MUST READ...

What is the longest a horse can safely go without food?
Answer from a veterinarian-
More and more I see horses and ponies stood for long periods of time with no hay or haylage. Usually under the guise of a “weight control diet”. So how long can a horse be without food before damage is done? And what damage is done?

For those with a short attention span, I’ll give you the answer to begin with - 4 hours, maximum.

Why?

Horses are grazers. They are designed to eat constantly. They have no way of storing their acids and digestive enzymes, they’ve never needed to. They have no gall bladder to store bile and their stomachs release acid constantly, whether or not there is food in the stomach and intestines.

A horses stomach only holds approximately 8-15 litres. Depending on the substance eaten, it takes on average 4-6 hours for the stomach to completely empty. After this, the acids and enzymes start to digest the inside of the horses stomach and then the intestines. This causes both gastric and intestinal ulceration. It has been estimated that 25-50% of foals and 60-90% of adult horses suffer from ulceration. But I won’t go into detail about this, there is a lot of information around about ulcers.

So is that it? Are ulcers the only concern?

No, having an empty stomach is a stress situation for a horse. The longer they are starved, the more they release stress hormones, cortisol predominantly. Cortisol blocks insulin and causes a constantly high blood glucose level. This stimulates the body to release even more insulin, and in turn this causes fat tissue to be deposited and leptin resistance. Over time this causes insulin resistance (Equine Metabolic Syndrome). All of these mechanisms are well known risk factors for laminitis and are caused by short term starvation (starting roughly 3-4 hours after the stomach empties). Starving a laminitic is literally the worst thing you can do. Over longer periods, this also starts to affect muscle and can cause weakness, and a lack of stamina so performance horses also need a constant supply of hay/haylage to function optimally.

Let’s not forget horses are living, breathing and feeling animals. We talk about this stress reaction like it’s just internal but the horse is well aware of this stress. Door kicking, box walking, barging and many other stable vices and poor behaviour can be explained by a very stressed horse due to food deprivation (we all have that Hangry friend to explain this reaction). Next time you shout or hit a horse that dives for their net, remember their body is genuinely telling them they are going to starve to death. They know no different.

But surely they spend the night asleep so they wouldn’t eat anyway?

Not true. Horses only need 20mins REM sleep every 24 hours (jealous? I am!). They may spend a further hour or so dozing but up to 22-23 hours a day are spent eating. So if you leave your horse a net at 5pm and it’s gone by 8pm, then by 12am their stomach is empty. By 4am they are entering starvation mode. By their next feed at 8am, they are extremely stressed, physically and mentally.

Now I know the many are reading this mortified. I can almost hear you shouting at your screen “if I feed my horse ad lib hay he won’t fit out the stable door in a week!!”

I will say that a horse with a constant supply of hay/haylage will eat far less then the same horse that is intermittently starved. They don’t eat in a frenzy, reducing the chance of colic from both ulcers and over eating.
Don’t forget exercise. The best way to get weight off a horse is exercise. Enough exercise and they can eat what they want!

Written by Vikki Fowler BVetMed BAEDT MRCVS

A few edits for the critics-

Firstly, feeding a constant supply does not mean ad lib feeding. It means use some ingenuity and spread the recommended amount of daily forage so the horse is never stood with out food for more than 4 hours. I am not promoting obesity, quite the opposite, feeding like this reduces obesity and IR. This can be done whilst feeding your horse twice a day as most horse owners do. Just think outside the box. Hang a hay bag or hay net*is one solution. Every horse/pony and situation is different, but this is a law of nature and all horses have this anatomy and metabolism. How you achieve this constant supply is individual, the need for it is not.

*the use of hay nets in the UK is very very high. I’d estimate 95% of horses I see are fed this way and very very few have incisor wear or neck/back issues as a result. Yes, feeding from the ground is ideal, but a constant supply, I feel trumps this. Again with ingenuity both can be safely achieved.

Final finally 🤦‍♀️ and I feel I must add this due to the sheer number of people contacting me to ask, feed your horses during transport!!! I am astonished this is not normal in other countries! Again in the UK, we give our horses hay nets to transport. We don’t go 10 mins up the road without a haynet and a spare in case they finish! Considering we are a tiny island and we rarely transport even 4 hours, we never transport without hay available. I have never seen an episode of choke due to travelling with hay available. If you are concerned, use a slow feeder net so they can’t take too much in at once.

If you get to the end of this post and your first thought is “I can’t do this with my horse/pony, they’d be morbidly obese”, you haven’t read the advice in this post thoroughly.

Thanks

05/28/2023

Inconvenienced
Kathleen Beckham

Years ago, I had a baby horse, and when he was about 18 months old, I had the opportunity to have an equine chiropractor work on him. He was wiggly and squirrelly, and I apologized to the chiropractor for that. “That’s okay,” she said, “Little babies haven’t learned how to be inconvenienced yet.”

That was big for me. So big. “Inconvenienced.” I hadn’t thought of that before, but it was the perfect word for it. We don’t want our horse to tolerate being hurt, or being treated unfairly, but he dang sure needs to be able to be inconvenienced.

From that day forward, “being inconvenienced” became a more thoughtful part of my horse work. I started to see some of the “issues” students were having with their horses as having to do with the horse’s inability to be “inconvenienced” without becoming very anxious. I also saw the stress that some of my students experienced when they knew they were going to inconvenience their horses. It turned out it was, indeed, a “thing.”

The ability to be inconvenienced and be resilient about it, it’s a skill. It’s a skill for people, it’s a skill in dogs, and it’s a skill in horses. It’s a skill that needs to be purposefully taught, and then carefully developed and expanded over time. It should be part of any training process for horses, because it’s something that they don’t necessarily come “from the factory” with, and it’s something they really need to succeed in the human world we insist they live in.

For a horse, “being inconvenienced” can be things like being asked to work while other horses are eating, standing tied, not being fed first, being turned out or brought in a “non-preferred” order, standing next to strange horses and not being allowed to socialize, having their feet picked up, going down the trail while other horses speed by, having veterinary work done, getting in a trailer or other small space, not being allowed to graze while working… I think you get the picture. Once I started thinking about my horse being “inconvenienced,” I saw it everywhere. Gosh, a LOT of a horse’s life in the human world is inconvenience. I also started to see how much stress a horse who had not learned to be resilient about being inconvenienced could experience.

It’s not always possible to remove the inconveniences in our horses’ lives, and I’m not sure that’s the way to go anyway. A horse who is resilient about being inconvenienced develops many other positive qualities because of his ability to be inconvenienced. He learns to self-soothe, he learns to think before he reacts. He learns patience and he learns to be flexible. He learns not to get stuck in patterns and expectations. He learns to be softer and more thoughtful. He learns to be calmer and quieter.

A horse who develops the ability to be inconvenienced as a principle of his training/life is less likely to be herdbound, gate sour or barn sour. They’re more likely to trailer load easily, to tie quietly and to learn whatever we are trying to teach them. It’s kind of the “secret sauce” of horse training, if you know about it.

Being inconvenienced might start very small. The first time one of our youngsters is inconvenienced might be the first time we have him on a lead rope and he wants to go left and I want to go right. Or he wants to eat grass and I want to take him for a walk or take him over to get his feet trimmed. So it might start very small at first. But I’m aware of it. I’m aware of when he’s inconvenienced, and I’m aware of how much inconvenience he’s able to take, for his stage of development. I am carefully and thoughtfully, methodically building his “fitness” to be inconvenienced.

Those little, fleeting inconveniences will turn into bigger ones eventually, like being left outside or in the barn by himself, or standing tied to the trailer all day, or working in the rain, or working while the farm is being fed. Those are much bigger inconveniences than being asked to turn left when you want to turn right. A working horse, or a horse we want to be able to take places and do things with, he’s really got to be able to be inconvenienced. That makes him much safer and more fun to be with.

Being inconvenienced is also about a horse being practiced at changing his mind. So he can practice thinking about one thing (“I want to go sniff that horse over there”) and change what he’s thinking about (“Hey horse, let’s go over here, away from that horse, and do a stop/back/bring our front end around.”). To do that, we have to be able to decipher what our horse is thinking about, and then become proficient at causing him to change his thoughts. Horses who can’t change their thoughts do not deal with inconvenience very well, while horses who are good at changing their thoughts will be much better at being inconvenienced.

This is different from “desensitization,” and it’s not about getting the horse “shut down. It’s not about hurting him, or flooding him, or setting him up to fail. It is literally about building the horse’s mental flexibility, by degrees. It’s methodical and progressive. It’s sometimes a delicate balance, and it can be something that takes some awareness and skill on the human’s part. It’s no different than building a horse’s physical fitness and abilities, it’s about choosing the right size steps for that horse’s fitness level.

A horse whose ability to be inconvenienced has been well-developed will be quieter, less anxious, less ulcery, and more physically and mentally balanced. They will have more brain-space available for things of our choosing.

This ability to be inconvenienced, it’s a gift to the horse. It’s a gift to him, so he doesn’t have to suffer the unnecessary stress and anxiety caused by his lack of mental flexibility. Done mindfully, it doesn’t have to be scary or dangerous. And done earlier, it’s easier. And older horse who has never been inconvenienced, that’s going to be more difficult than a younger horse with no preconceived ideas about things.

At the end of the day, this is a practical thing. We choose to have our horses live in our human world, so if they can be inconvenienced, that makes living in our world a lot easier for them. It’s a gift, not a burden to them.

Coming soon... The Attention Course: an online learning opportunity that will help you get, keep and direct your horse’s attention (thought), and in the process, become worthy of it. This is part of being inconvenienced, because it is not always convenient for our horse to pay attention to us (or for us to have to ask for his attention). If you’d like to be eligible for a discount on The Attention Course when it goes live soon, sign up for your discount here:

You can: Transform your relationship with your horse. You can: Become significant to each other. You can: Learn to work TOGETHER. Sign up for your early-bird discount on the next Attention Course, which starts soon! Don’t miss it!!!! First Name Last Name Email Address Get your discount! Thank you!...

05/07/2023

Stole this....

Choosing to look on the bright side can be very difficult.

👉I’ve gone to shows this year and wondered if I should even bother with the next one. I’ve heard things that made me want to quit because of someone’s opinion.

I Show up anyways.

👉It’s not about anyone’s opinion. It’s not about winning. It’s about growing. If you’re struggling to tell yourself this. Just show up anyways.

👉You might be the person that lost your heart horse and you’re struggling to find the right fit, and you’re getting frustrated, tired, and you question yourself.

👉You might be bringing up a young horse, and every time you think he’s ready, you mess up, but you come back again.

👉You might have overheard somebody say something you didn’t want to hear. And you might have taken it like a shot straight to the heart.

👉You might be the person that came out of nowhere and blew everyone away. 👏Little do they know you have been working for YEARS. And you think no one saw you then.👏

You might be all of them.

No ones opinion matters. No buckle, trophy, ribbon, or check matters. Nothing matters if you are not there because you love your horse. Because you have a deep love for the sport. Because you get on your horse every day to grow. To make them better. To make yourself better.

You are there because you love it. People talk bad if you lose, and they talk bad if you win. Those aren’t your people.

When you think no one sees you. They do.

All those scenarios I mentioned. I’ve seen them. And I’ve been a lot of them.

When you think no one sees you. Somebody does. I see you. I see you try. I see you struggle. I see you grow.

Never give it up.

Stay strong for that one person that isn’t sure if they wants to keep going. They’re watching you. They’re counting on you.

But not to win. They’re counting on you to show up anyways. To not lose heart.

If you think I’m talking about you. I am. I’m talking about those people I’ve seen for years. And the one’s just starting out.

Be encouraged because someone keeps going because you kept going. Because of you, I show up anyways. Because of you I can’t give up.

I said it at the start and I’ll say it again. This sport is not for the faint of heart.