TRANSITIONS
The dictionary definition of a transition is:
The process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another. Apparently, the origin of the word is from the Latin transio and transire which means ‘go across’.
I suppose that is the reason that the term is often used to describe the process that a person or animal makes at the end of their physical life when they ‘go across’ to a non-physical state.
Those of us who train horses or ride, use the term all the time to describe the point at which a horse changes from one pace into another.
The word has been on my mind a lot over this Christmas and New Year holiday that I am using to add content to the framework of this new website.
It has felt like an important and life changing period of transition for me, and as I sit here, writing this on the 30th of December, the impending ‘sight’ of the new year and new decade of 2020 is on the horizon.
It feels like it is going to be a significant time for BALANCE, because I am seeing evidence of more people and groups doing studies that bring them to conclusions that agree with the way we have been working and promoting for a quarter of a century! I doubt that BALANCE will get much in the way of acknowledgment, such is the way of the world, but it fills me with hope that riding horses might have a brighter future, because of it.
On a personal note, I have been thinking a lot about what I want to do with the rest of my life and have concluded that I want to be able to hand the reins of the BALANCE Organisation over to someone else in the coming year. Not to abandon all involvement. On the contrary, I want to be able to contribute to the important work that BALANCE is involved with, but in ways that do not rely on me to take all of the decisions and have all of the financial responsibilities of the business.
Carol’s death in 2018 has inevitably made me think about my own and what would happen to BALANCE if I were to ‘transition’. It could survive, but it would be highly disruptive and would put a group of people that I care about, under a lot of stress. The kind of transition that a dressage judge might describe as ‘Abrupt’ and mark with a 4!
With this in mind, I have already planted the seeds that could lead to a much smoother transition that a dressage judge would like a lot better. 😊
I want some of the key people in the BALANCE TEAM to take a more active role in the way the business is run during 2020. It was a too much for Carol and me to deal with in truth, but we did it. Now, it needs the energy, enthusiasm and vision of more people to make sure that BALANCE doesn’t just survive, it deserves to thrive.
A liberation from the heavy weight of responsibility will make it possible for me to enjoy the things that I can contribute to the future role of BALANCE in the horse world, whether that be presenting the information in lecture- demonstrations and Seminars; and/or writing articles, creating video content and collaborating with our manufactures to create design improvements in the products that carry the BALANCE logo.
I hope that 2020 will be a year of smooth and joyful transitions for all of us.
Happy Riding
Lesley
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