The world is full of phonies. You’ve got C-list actors who blog about their A-list lives, supposed real estate gurus selling how-to guides for ninety-nine bucks, and eighteen-year-old college students trying to get into night clubs with false identification. What they don’t seem to realize—but will one day discover—is that faking it is dangerous.
This is true in any industry, from telecommunication to auto manufacturing, and horse business owners should take heed. If you’re boosting your resume with false accomplishments or otherwise misleading your clients, it will come back to bite you in the you-know-what.
Guaranteed.
The Psychology of Faking It
I truly believe that horse business owners who try to fake it through their careers are insecure about their accomplishments. They feel like they haven’t done enough or won enough, or made enough to hack it in the horse industry, so they fudge their backgrounds to keep up with the Joneses.
I can understand this mentality. I never made it very far in my competition career, as I suffered injuries that revealed an underlying condition—osteoporosis—that would have made continued competition extremely dangerous. This diagnosis also cut my horse training career short because riding crazy babies was also out of the question.
For a long time I was embarrassed by my lack of experience in the horse show arena. I focused on what I hadn’t done rather one what I had accomplished, which led to feelings of worthlessness. As a result, I would gloss over my history when talking to other horse business owners or with clients.
It took me a while, but I finally realized that my outlook was stupid. Here I was, a competent and talented riding instructor, afraid to talk about the fact that I hadn’t made it to one- or two-stars in eventing. Never mind that I had schooled with Olympians, worked with some of the best trainers in the world, and taught countless students how to love and work successfully with horses.
When you’re busy faking it, you lose sight of what’s really important in the horse business. It isn’t how many ribbons hang on your wall or how many world-class animals you’ve ridden, or even how many high-level horses you’ve trained.
What matters is your commitment to the horse business, your love of horses, and your desire to give your clients the best you’ve got.
The Dangers of Faking It
Besides the immoral nature of faking it, there can be serious consequences if you’re telling your clients and colleagues things that aren’t true. As soon as you start lying about your history and accomplishments, you put each of your clients in danger.
My first riding instruction job was with a small local stable. The quality of care at this barn and the level of professionalism was far below what I’d known in the past, but I convinced myself I could raise the bar and improve the conditions if I worked hard enough.
One of the riding instructors was related to the owner of the barn, and she worked there not because she enjoyed teaching or because she was good at her job, but because she didn’t really want to work. She taught several classes on the weekends and put the minimum effort in. However, the owner of the barn touted her as an experienced and qualified professional.
It was a Sunday afternoon, and she decided she was bored of watching her young students walk, trot and canter around the arena. She decided that she would “teach” her kids how to jump, an activity in which she had never participated.
One student, an eleven-year-old girl, wound up with two broken arms, a broken leg and shattered ribs.
This is the danger of faking it.
The Alternative
All riding instructors and other horse business owners have something special to offer their communities. Be it solid teaching skills, the ability to communicate effectively with horses or sound business sense, faking it will not take you nearly as far as using and broadcasting your true assets.
Try to discover the reason why you’ve been faking it, then come up with a list of your accomplishments. They might not be as extensive as the ones you fabricated, but they are perfectly acceptable.
And realize that faking it doesn’t have to be as elaborate as lying to your clients’ faces. Simply pretending to be more knowledgeable or experienced than you truly are can be dangerous, and even if you aren’t telling outright lies you could find yourself in trouble—or get someone hurt.
Instead, make the decision to be proud of who you are and how far you’ve come. Make it your goal to actually achieve the accomplishments you want to be able to advertise.
About the Author: Laura Jane Thompson is the Editor in Chief of Riding Instructor University and the Feature writer for the horses section at Suite101. Follow her EquiTips on Twitter.
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