Every day, just as the the lull of the afternoon wants to take hold, Dad walks into the office from the farm and proclaims the rhetorical: “How lucky are we?”
You see, Dad frequently goes out to greet our guests on our Mill Ridge-Horse Country tours, most often after they have fed carrots to mares standing by the fence. To a person they will look him in the eye: “You know how lucky you are to do what you do?” This is the reward we did not anticipate as we built out Horse Country.
As a result of Horse Country and sharing our land, horses and history with our visitors, we have grown to appreciate something we took for granted and something our visitors remind us daily. We are so lucky to do what we do, to work with horses. It is easy to take this privilege for granted, without the daily reminder from others.
These past few months have been very hard. Through trying to process the uncertainty of our industry, I found inspiration in the Australian racing community. ‘Kick Up For Racing’ has empowered their community with facts, information, skills and confidence to proudly talk about our industry. They are changing the narrative and affirming our social license.
One thing we have learned is these industry issues are global and through social platforms, we all have the opportunity to have a more centralized message. With that, I hope you will join in bringing a similar forum to America. ‘Light Up Racing’ (shine some positive light) is our community advocating for the horse and holding each other accountable to them. Together, we will be proud of our transparency and inspired by our collective passion for the horse.
As the Thanksgiving season transitions to the holidays, it allows us to pause and reflect on the year and dream of next. We are all so lucky. We have learned though our visitors that sharing is inspiring. I hope you will take a moment to sign up with “Light Up Racing” and learn more about an initiative to shine more on the positive aspects of our industry with helpful facts and information.
Price Bell, Mill Ridge Farm
