Timber Creek Stables

16/07/2025

To the young athletes out there…

The ones grinding in silence. Working hard for very little glory. Chasing something deeper than a medal or a podium.

Grit.
It feels like a lost art these days. But it’s everything.
When the rest give up at the first hurdle, you keep showing up.
Wilting when it gets tough? That’s never an option. Not for you.

Stop being obsessed with the wins and the victories.
Start getting obsessed with the process.
The early mornings, the failures, the sweat, the lessons, the breakthroughs.
Because when you chase the process, the rest follows.

A legend of showjumping once told me:
“If you think you’re working… work harder.”
There’s always someone better, so be humble—and hungry.
Every day is a chance to get 1% better. And in every situation?
There’s always a better way—try seeing it.

Don’t let social media, or what others have, or their “perfect” lives and shiny things drag you down.
Stay in your lane. Create your own journey.
It’s not determined by anyone or anything but YOU.

Talent is great.
But hard work, effort, and resilience will beat it—every single time.

Take a second to reflect…
Where were you this time last year?
Look at how much you’ve grown, developed, achieved.
How much you’ve become. It’s easy to forget how far you’ve come.

And when it all feels hard, when the doubt creeps in—remember why you started.
It wasn’t because you loved shoulder-in, no stirrups, or hours of repetition in the saddle.

You started because you fell in love with one of the most majestic animals on Earth—
The Horse.

Hold onto that.
Keep showing up.
And never stop chasing better.

15/07/2025

Yes!!

Riding changes people in ways that truly matter.
Every ride builds strength, courage, and quiet confidence that shows up in every part of your life.
This isn’t just for kids, adults evolve in the saddle too. The real prize isn’t a ribbon. It’s who you become. ✨

Keep getting on.
Keep becoming.
And never underestimate the power of the ride. 🐴

15/07/2025

Way to go Delaney and Hloo!!

It's time for... MEDAL MONDAY!

Today we send out a huge congratulations to Delaney Beard for her winning ride in the AMHA Hunt Seat on the Flat Silver Medal Class, on Hillwood Irish Hooligan at the 2025 Key Classic Benefit Horse Show! Great Job!

Photo by Kathy Carlson

14/07/2025

Get out there and chase your dreams! 🌟💫🌟

⚠️ Hard truth coming your way. If you’re looking for comfort, you’re in the wrong place. Most people are too afraid to say this out loud, but I’ll say it:

Maybe some people just aren’t meant to be great riders. Maybe you really are destined to be average. Maybe you’re just an also-ran, a non-ribbon winner. Maybe that’s all you’ll ever be, and maybe that’s okay. Mediocrity needs its poster children, right? Somebody’s gotta fill the middle of the results list.

💥 If your heart just sank, if your confidence just dropped, if you felt angry or defiant reading that…good. You’re not wired for mediocrity. You’re just getting in your own way. But knowing that isn’t enough. Now you have to do something about it.

So how do you break through?
First, figure out your why.
❓ Why do you ride?
❓ Why do you compete?
❓ What made you chase this sport in the first place?

You do it for yourself.
You do it for your horse. 🐴
You do it for the kid you used to be, the one who dreamed about showing horses and standing center ring.
You do it because that’s the rider you were meant to be. Not an also-ran. Not someone quietly fading into the background.

It’s not easy. It’s not supposed to be. Most days, it will feel damn near impossible. You’ll doubt yourself. You’ll wonder if you’re really cut out for this.

But if you keep coming back, ride after ride, class after class, if you want it badly enough to do the work, to take in every correction, every lesson, every ounce of information, analyze it, live it, apply it, you will become the great rider you were meant to be.

You owe it to yourself.
You owe it to your horse. 🏆
You owe it to the dream you had before anyone told you to settle.

✨ You’re not destined for mediocrity. You’re destined to chase your dreams, so get out there and do it. ✨

12/07/2025

Lexington Motivation Series – Day 7
📗 How to NOT Annoy the Judge

“Nervous? Good. That means it matters.” 💥

It’s Saturday at Lexington. 🌙
The lights are up. The energy is buzzing. The seats are full. This is what you’ve been building toward all week, maybe all season.

And if your heart is racing right now, good.
That means this ride means something to you. 💚
It means the work, the pressure, and the dreams are all coming together. 🐎

Let the adrenaline sharpen your focus 🎯
Let the nerves keep you present 💡
Let your horse feel your belief, not your fear 🤝

The riders who rise in moments like this aren’t the ones who feel nothing.
They’re the ones who feel it all and ride anyway 💪

Soak it in. The lights. The noise. The moment. Then show the ring exactly who you are.

Make it your most confident, most unforgettable ride yet 🏆
This is your time. I promise.

📍Breathe. Settle in. And ride like you were born for this because you were.

11/07/2025

✨Yes, the hard rides leave marks.
✨Yes, the detours, the heartbreaks, the failed patterns — they shape how you show up.

But they aren’t the full story.
✨They’re just chapters.
Not the title. Not the ending.

You are not the girl who fell off.
🙌🏽You’re the woman who got back on — wiser, stronger, softer in the right places, sharper in the rest.

Let the lessons guide you.
But never let the past put you in a box you’ve already outgrown.

You’re still writing this ride.
And there’s more in you than anything you’ve been through.

08/07/2025

Change your words, change your world. You’re worth it 💜

08/07/2025

Lexington Motivation Series – Day 2
📗 How to NOT Annoy the Judge

“Ride for Her”
“The little girl who dreamed of this show is still in there.
Ride for her.”

Before you trot through that gate, take a breath 💨
This is the moment she used to imagine. The one she stayed up late thinking about ✨
The one she watched from the stands with wide eyes and a pounding heart 💗

She didn’t care about judges. She didn’t worry about ribbons 🎀
She just wanted to be part of something magical 🐎
To ride a magnificent horse under those iconic lights 🌟
To feel brave. Connected. Alive.

She’s still in there 💫
And she deserves a ride filled with presence, pride, and heart ❤️

💚 Ride for her.
But also ride for the young riders watching from the rail.
Those hanging on every pass, dreaming of the day it’s their turn 👀
The future horsemen and horsewomen learning how much it means, just by watching you 🐴

Let this ride leave a mark.
Not just on the judges’ card, but on the people who will never forget how you made them feel 📝💭

This week, we don’t ride for approval ✅
We ride for connection 🤝
We ride for the dreamers 💭
We ride for the child we once were 👧🏻

📍Lexington Junior League. Ride like it matters. Because it always did.

05/07/2025

I know how this sounds. Ungrateful. Dramatic. Maybe even like I’m being a bad sport. You might remember a while back, I said it’s not about the ribbons.
And it’s still not.
But it IS a competition.
And most of us do want to be rewarded for the time, the effort, the determination, and the seamless partnership we’ve built with our horse.

After enough second places, class after class, year after year, it starts to wear on you.
You start questioning your decisions. Your timing. Your instincts.
You wonder if you’re just not quite good enough.

So go ahead and judge me for saying it out loud.
I want my number called out first.
And if you’ve ever stood in that lineup anxiously waiting for your number to be called, I’ll bet deep down you do too. 👊

Always a bridesmaid, never the bride? 👗🥈
To observers, second place at the competitive shows looks like success. And it is.
But it can also start to feel like a ceiling.
A quiet reminder that you’re not quite the one.

It’s not that we aren’t grateful. We are.
But we’re also reaching for more and trying to figure out how to finally break through.

Why does second keep happening?

✅ You’re consistent, but not commanding
✅ Refined, but not unforgettable
✅ Respected, but not the expected winner

So what now?

Understand that it may take longer than expected to become the number on top when it’s close.
In the meantime, tighten everything.
The horse. The turnout. The strategy. The presence.
And keep showing up like you’re the one to beat. 💥🎯

At least this is what I tell myself when second place feels heavier than it should.
I have to believe consistency builds credibility. And that credibility builds momentum.
I hope I’m right. I have to be right.
It’s what keeps me coming back.

04/07/2025

💜💜💜

Every ride begins alone.
Just you, your horse, and the silence.

But if you listen closely, you’re never really alone.

There’s the voice of your first coach, still correcting your hands.
The pony that taught you stubbornness is a virtue.
The old gelding who forgave every mistake you didn’t know you made.
The show where you choked. The test where you soared.
The trainer who left too soon.
The one who stayed too long.

You ride with ghosts.

Not the haunting kind—
but the kind that shaped your seat before you even knew you had one.

Every whisper of “more outside rein,” every instinctive half-halt, every gut-deep knowing that you’re off-balance before you even feel it?
That’s muscle memory and myth colliding.
That’s legacy, echoing through the contact.

We don’t just ride horses.
We ride moments.
We ride memories.
We ride with every lesson burned into our bones.

So next time you swing a leg over, don’t rush.
Breathe.
Feel who’s riding with you.

And ask:

Which ghosts are guiding your hands today?