12/21/2024
“Passion is a powerful force. Passion properly directed is unstoppable. Every successful person in life began by pursuing a passion, usually against all odds. The size of your success is measured by the strength of your desire, size of your dream and how you handle disappointments along the way.”
- Robert Kiyosaki
I was raised by two very creative people.
Artists, if you will.
My mom, Beth is an actual artist. Pencils, charcoal, and in recent years digital graphics are her medium of choice. She is a graphic designer by trade. You can tell her your vision for a logo, tattoo, or graphic and she brings it to life. She just envisions it.
My dad, Trip is one of those people that is naturally keen to everything he tries. Dad, if you read this, don’t argue—it’s a fact, you’re a hand. But his most creativity, I always thought, was found in music. He’s one of those people that can hear it and play it. He not only can play, mostly string instruments, but he can mix music and sound as well. He just hears how it should sound in any type of space or venue and makes it happen.
And here I am, the product of an artist mother (who is also a horsewoman) and a musical father (who is also a dog trainer).
I’m not much of a drawer.
Like, I kinda can… my notes when I was in school were more doodles than notes (ask Melissa).
Musically. Well, I might be able to still play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on my old bass guitar, if I can remember how to read the music. 🎼 Maybe.🤔
I can write decently. ✍️ 🤷🏻♀️
I am the product of two incredibly creative people, and my obsession is horses.
Since I was a kid, I couldn’t get enough of them. I woke up thinking about them, went to bed thinking about them, and if you could ever convince me to even consider my future—all I could picture was horses.
So I moved to Texas the day after I graduated high school to pursue a career in horses. I went to school, Elliot and I opened Versatile Horsemanship, LLC.
Long story shortened some; overtime, God placed a particular set of people into my life through the horse. That handful of people have helped me focus, find my own creative inspiration, and begin to define my purpose by just simply being apart of my life.
**Pro tip: Your circle matters. 👏🏻
There’s this song by Somebody's Darling, it’s called “Horses” and part of the chorus goes something like, “I found God, watching the horses.”
That line right there resonates.
I found my passion, own artistic creativity in order to connect, communicate, and maybe even inspire.
Not through visual art, like my mother.
Not through music, like my father.
Instead, through the horse.
Freestyles, performing, especially what goes into interacting with these horses at Liberty is creative to me. It sparks a fire and has lit up the path to purpose.
When I’m out there with my horses, it’s not about the attention or the spotlight. If you believe that then you truly don’t know me at all.
My comfort zone is in the back alley as the groom and the cheerleader. 📣
Shoot. I spent most of elementary school and part of middle school in speech therapy classes because I had such a bad stutter that I could hardly communicate vocally. Why was a quiet kid? I literally couldn’t spit words out. 🤷🏻♀️🤐
But we are at our best when we are challenged.
We find out just what we’re made of when we are pushed out of our comfort zone.
Do you rise to the occasion when challenged to expand your comfort zone?
Or do you back down and retreat with your tail between your legs?
Training horses, coaching people, and performing with horses is my own creative way of communicating and reaching people.
And I’ll be honest, it can be real uncomfortable pursuing your passion. It takes guts, it takes faith, and relentlessly staying the course.
It’s not about the spotlight, fulfilling ego, or even being validated.
It’s about growing.
It’s about challenging yourself.
Finding your peace.
Finding your purpose.
It is about becoming a better version of the horseman and the human being than you were yesterday.
Find your passion, find your purpose, and be relentless in pursuit of it.
That calling in your heart, your mind, and in your guts has been put there for a reason.
So quit talking about it and go for it already, even if the odds are stacked against you. 🙌🏻🔥
— Caitie Holtzman
📸: Saddle Up Marketing
