Kate Chadderton and VS McCuan Civil Liberty at Blenheim. Photo by Samantha Clark.
“Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. “
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
And by far the most important of all:
“NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up.”
You may wonder why my tip of the week consists entirely of Winston Churchill quotes. There are two reasons: 1) they’ve always been a true guide in my life as I stretch from a very low rung to one (nay many) far beyond what I should be able to reach and, 2) I recently had the phenomenal fortune of competing at the birthplace of Sir Churchill himself, Blenheim Palace in Woodstock UK.
The horse I chose to take as my partner in this adventure is a West Virginian bred mongrel with a heart mixed of pure gold and pure rotten tomato. The heart jumps me out of any rough distance, the tomato spooks at a bird and tries to dump me, the rotter! As one of my owners Beth says, he’s a bar room brawler and would never say die.
After qualifying for the Rio Olympics at Bromont in June I decided we needed to test our metal where it counts, amongst the Europeans. So off we went.
Our dressage was not of the standard we were conditioned for here in the U.S (we really should take a good hard long look at ourselves there), our cross country, while ‘keen’ for the first couple of fences, was as easy as the apple pie I enjoy eating on every possible occasion.
If you allow me to digress, as a rider I was invited into the Duke of Marlborough’s palace as a guest for a cocktail party. One can’t be rude and turn down such an invite, especially if you’re from the middle of nowhere Queensland in the convict stronghold of Australia, I arrived in my best attire (a dress normally reserved for fancy dinners and a shawl which was a Christmas gift from Carla MacLeod) and a genuine love of the artwork and (obviously) complimentary cocktails.
The point of this recount is there’s a whole room devoted to the one and only Winston Churchill. What a leader, visionary and most importantly horseman he was. As a man he not only had to lead the free world through a world war, he also had to breed top class racehorses and win with them! And that he did.
As I mentioned I come from a middle of nowhere, no income, make your own destiny background. And here I find myself, in Winston Churchill’s birthplace on the official invite of the the Duke himself. And the handsome steed I’m riding cost dimes from WV having raced a couple of times at Charlestown. Hardly royalty. Which brings me back to the start of my story, in Sir Churchill’s own words.
NEVER. NEVER. NEVER give up.
Regardless of how poor your are. Or how badly you ride. Love your horse and love your craft and before you know it you’ll be in a palace too!
The additional quotes are just some free extras for you!
Aim for the moon, even if you miss you’ll land amongest the stars.
And, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER give up.
