Along for The Ride; Being in the “Arena”

by Robyn Schiller

Robyn is the wife of horse (and people) trainer Warwick Schiller. She invites you to join her as she journeys through her life as trainer’s wife, mother, business woman and nationally competitive rider.

As it pertains to the philosophies, programs and principles Warwick teaches, I think the first time that it actually clicked as to what Warwick was forever going on and on about was in England in 2014.  It was our first trip there and he had a demo to do after his first day of clinics.  That night there was this rearing pony stallion.  As Warwick was talking, I remember thinking OH MY GOD!  I GET IT!  I can’t remember exactly what it was that finally made the tumbler fall, but I do remember feeling like slapping my forehead.

You might think that fact is ridiculous; that it took me so many years to finally get what Warwick was on about.  I lived with him, had worked with him and could hear the videos he was recording in the background every night for years.  But I wasn’t REALLY listening.  I had my own gig happening, I had a full-time job that I was trying to concentrate on and a teenage boy in high school.  Along with everything else being a working mom and wife entail – I had more demanding things to listen to.

Now that I’ve been working solely for Warwick for a couple years, Warwick keeps telling me that I have more to offer than being the silent “behind the scenes wizard”.  I think writing this blog is one way I can contribute.  I’m sure I’m like many of you.  I grew up a horse crazy kid (I was riding before I walked…that is me and my first pony Jack in the picture.  I think I was 3 or 4 years old and he was old enough to know better).  Now I’m “just” a horse-loving wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend and employee.  And most of the time I feel like I’m doing a half-a$$ed job at all of them! I’ve always carried a little more weight than I should, I worry way too much (about anything and everything), I hate conflict, I’ve got anxiety and a fear of not being good enough.  Those are just a couple things you should know about me, so you might see similarities between yourself and me when you read the blogs.

My plan is to explain what Warwick teaches from my perspective and my stories and maybe it will help somebody along the way on their journey.

I promise my grammar will not be perfect.  I am pretty good at spelling  but just remember we live in the US so I don’t use “ou” and “s” as some of you may. I just want to get my point across, so please read the blogs with that in mind and forgive the improper use of Effect or Affect, as that is bound to happen.

I will admit to being a bit nervous about putting these blogs out there.  I’m not good at handling when people don’t like me.  And, to be honest, one of the only PM’s I got after announcing I was going to write this blog was someone telling me I was rude to them on the FB group and then promptly blocked me so I could not respond back.  I couldn’t 1. Figure out what she was talking about and 2. Apologize or explain after I knew.  I agonized for days over that single PM, it drained me.  But then I remembered Theodore Roosevelt’s quote about being in the Arena (I’ve got a blog about it). I thought, I am choosing to be in the arena and I’m not going to let one negative private message overpower the hundreds of positive responses to the announcement. As Brene Brown explains, “It’s easy & safe to hurl insults from the cheap seats at those in the arena.”

So, here I go, flying by the seat of my pants – welcome to “Along for the Ride” I hope that you enjoy it!

P.S. I couldn’t find the comment from the person who suggested the name for this blog – THANK YOU – obviously I love it!