Moving to the Big Pond

I leave next Tuesday night for the Region 1 AQHA Championship show. I’ve been attending local open and schooling shows throughout the summer. Grace and I are starting to be competitive at the rated open shows and are one of the bigger fish at the schooling shows. I’m not one to focus on points or placing, I rarely sign up for year-end or high point award. The combination of classes I ride in pale in comparison to the all-day riders. My goal at each show is to improve over the last performance, I’m looking for proof that all of my hard work at home is adding up to something. While I don’t go off to shows with winning as the end goal, one visit to my work station at the office  the walls of which are obnoxiously plastered in blue ribbons leaves little doubt that I have done well in the confines of the local level. If it wasn’t for an October date in Vegas, I could get very comfortable hanging out in the small pond. I read a quote once that said “Life begins at the edge of your comfort zone.” I hope to remember that as I come to terms with just how small I am in the big pond.