Getting Back to Normal

"There is no doubt that the world has changed a lot and will never be the same world as the one we have known before." - Basil Al Jaddan, breeder, ECAHO A Judge & First President of the Syrian Arab Horse Association 

In several places across the world, restrictions are being carefully lifted and life, is starting to slowly, return to normal. Eventually, normal will become more widespread. Despite moving closer towards life as we knew it, the reality is that we don't really know what lies ahead and whether, normal, is a realistic expectation.  What is normal? Have you thought about this word, "normal? Was the life we lived 3 months ago really normal? What if "normal" only feels better now, because the feeling of "normal" is not really that normal...it's just, well, comfortable.

Maybe you have received an email blast from Arabian Essence, containing  a link for the new edition of Tutto Arabi?  I am here today in case you missed the email and have not yet read an important article published within this month's magazine. Not to worry, I have hyperlinked the issue for you, in the next sentence. Inside the May edition of Tutto Arabi, on page 95, is an important feature, Our Passion-Our Future by Giorgia Mauri, who, through the collective perspective of 12 different people, offers encouraging words on what life, on the other side of COVID-19, may mean for our beloved Arabian horse.  The people chosen to participate in this feature represent a wide variety of interests and levels of participation within the Arabian horse community. The questions asked by Giorgia Mauri, resulted in answers that are diverse, reflective and thoughtful, in a time period which finds our breed, at a crossroads, yet again.

"It certainly is no secret that the Arabian business as a whole has been struggling for the past several years. It seems that only the very best and the lower-priced horses are selling. The market for young colts also no longer exists. Our community has lost many breeders that actually had a program and a vision for the future. The Arabian horse community can not survive long-term on the 1% supporting this industry and this is what has been happening for a while now." - Scott Bailey, Arabian horse breeder and founder of arabhorse.com 

I don't think I will ever forget the haunting images of bodies being placed in refrigerated trailers, functioning as makeshift morgues. It was images like these that terrified me, as I confronted the fragility of my own life. Every sniffle, cough, and ache created great anxiety. Overall, I felt "blech" and as my body temperature increased from the panic I was feeling, there were many dark and sleepless nights spent tossing and turning, as I imagined the worst-nebulizers, oxygen tanks, ventilators and intubation. You eventually get to a point where you realize that the life that you are hanging onto, is not the life that you dreamed of living and like I said, you meet the finality of death head on, the worst of which are all the regrets, when you realize that life was not lived to its fullest potential and there were many missed opportunities to do better. You see the life you have lived with painfully clear detail: the ingratitude, the selfish desires, hurtful words that can't be taken back and sadly, dreams that will never be realized. In all of my imperfections, which are as numerous as the stars in the night sky; I realized that only God can bring you back from the edge of night and put all the broken pieces back together. I know, because I lived through it. On the other side of all this, living a life that has meaning or purpose, not for your own self but for others, become compelling and motivating reasons to change, radically.

"Spiritually, people seem to have been reminded again and strongly, of the basic facts of life and death and are closer to faith and belief than any time before and the ladder of priorities have a new order and ranking."- Basil Al Jaddan, breeder, ECAHO A Judge & First President of the Syrian Arab Horse Association  

I was listening to a homily that was recently given by Fr. Jonathan Meyer of All Saints Church in Guilford, Indiana. Father Meyer said, "when we are afraid, when things are uncertain, we will do anything to reach for what is familiar, what is comfortable, even if what is comfortable or normal, is self-destructive." Father Meyer suggested that normal may not be a place that we want to get back to but maybe, normal is something we will want to become. Perhaps, what we have made normal in our life, is what really needs to become part of our past, requiring that we step out of our comfort zone, even if it is painful and start to replace it with a new life that is worthy of being defined as normal, that is, the normal life we have been longing for.

"Because every crisis can also create opportunity, our overall perspective has never been more important. This is a good time to reflect - and if we hope to survive, we must all consider the future, stay positive and reinvent ourselves." - Renata Schibler, ECAHO A Judge & President of Arab Swiss Organization

Who will forget the long line of cars in parking lots, pictured across America, a land of abundance and yet, with hungry families waiting hours for food pantries to open? What will be the economic fall-out for the millions who find themselves without a job? And how long will it take people to dig out from the deep financial hole that Corona Virus has dug for us?  How will a significant reduction in economic prosperity impact the Arabian horse? Before the pandemic, in a more prosperous time, we struggled with economic factors that affected both buyers and sellers of Arabian horses. How will it be now? I worry for all horses and the owners who may have been hanging on by a thread going into the pandemic and now, may be at a point of serious crisis through job loss or sickness. Who will help them?

"Despite the very critical moment, we know that it will pass. It is a matter of time. I believe that despite the financial problems and the sad losses, the world will come back better, people more sensitive to the needs of others and the Arabian horse world more united around our passion." - Rodrigo Forte, owner of RFI Arabians & President of Brazilian Arabian Horse Breeders Association

While the challenges that we face as a breed community are somewhat daunting, well beyond the ability of any one person to solve; the consensus of opinion points in the direction of innovation and imagination, that is, to "think outside the box" or as Father Meyer said in his homily, "step outside of our comfort zone". I believe that we have to try many, many different things (the only wrong answers will be the ones we don't try) and remain open to much trial and error, no matter how challenging (or painful) the trial or the error is, to determine what works best for the breed and what doesn't work at all.

In the Tutto Arabi article, someone stated the need to build value for our breed. That statement really hit me hard and the more I thought about it, the more I believe that value begins with us, on an individual level. We need to assume a greater responsibility for every word, every thought, every action we make. In the eyes of others who may not be familiar with the breed, we, as owners, breeders, trainers, organizers and yes, even the enthusiasts are experts, that is, the people who know the horse intimately. Like it or not, the words we use or the actions we engage in, whether positive  or negative, will become forever associated in that person's mind with Arabian horses.

"We must also remind ourselves that it is a privilege to have a role in the existence of the Arabian horse, a breed which has survived thousands of years." - Renata Schibler, ECAHO A Judge & President of Arab Swiss Organization

We must never forget our role as stewards, never let our guard down, no matter how disappointed we may feel in a given moment and remember that all of us, regardless of the bloodlines we prefer or the disciplines we participate in, have more in common, than the differences that we allow to divide us, from each other. Furthermore, through the sentiments expressed in this wonderful Tutto Arabi feature, we need to realize that as human beings, we are not so unique and the feelings that we are struggling with, are also being experienced by our peers, who just like you, find themselves adapting to the new world that the Corona virus is creating! Regardless of who you are, there are no strangers to the impacts of the Corona Virus pandemic. We are all in this together, bound by our love for the Arabian horse!