Dover’s Dreams ….. And Yours
My Mom and I spoke yesterday and she informed me that it was time to “freshen up my website”. Now, as everyone who reads Dover’s World by now knows, my mother has been my greatest fan and my most fearless critic. She’s definitely one of the few who have the upper hand on me, so I might as well not get defensive and simply relent and do what she says.
Well, I’ve been thinking about it since our little talk and I decided to start a new page I’m calling, “Dover’s Dreams And Yours”. My idea is to talk about ideas I have dreamed but not yet realized and I’m hoping that you will write in and share yours as well with me and my readers.
Here’s the thing - sometimes all it takes to get one’s wish to come true is to put it out there into the universe and stand back. Now that doesn’t mean I don’t bel;ieve in hard work and determination, as well as talent and other resources. It just means that if we all would take that first step to just say out loud what’s been in our hearts and on our minds about goals and wishes, we just could find out that our biggest obstacle standing in our paths to achieving them might disappear.
So, watch for my first “Dream”column under the Dover’s Dreams …And Yours icon, and I can’t wait to read about yours! Who knows - maybe, just maybe somebody might read about our dreams and think, “Wow, I’d like to meet this person and see if I can make their dream come true!” Take it from me -YOU NEVER KNOW.
Cheers!
RD
Luann Houser — July 15, 2009 @ 7:44 am
I’m an artist who attended your Cincinnati Symposium as vendor. I was able to listen to you drill horses and riders for two days, and I can’t say enough about how inspiring you are. I attended at the urging of my boss, who regretfully could not attend. I wish everyone who rides could experience watching you for a day, regardless of riding discipline. You give so much of yourself, and it was amazing to watch each horse respond to the change in a rider as she/he applied a specific aid as you directed. Just like others who wrote to your blog after the symposium, I find it hard to express how much I gained from the experience. It was an opportunity of a lifetime that I will never forget.
So, once again, you are reaching out to uplift and encourage your fans.
I’m addicted to your website, and am promising myself to dust off my dressage saddle, find a willing (and tough!!) instructor, and get back to riding more consistently.
Your work ethic, fairness, toughness, encouragement, and talent that were evident at your symposium is a model for anyone to follow in order to make dreams come true. Thanks, Robert! You are truly an American Hero, and I see why you have such a devoted following!
And my dream? To paint exquisite portraits in a style emeniscent of the Masters. Like a great equestrian, it takes hard work & devotion to craft!!
Regards,
Luann Houser
Sandra McGuire — July 15, 2009 @ 8:22 am
What a fantastic idea! Thank you for being so positive and inspiring. Dressage and horsemanship are great parallels for life. The lessons you take from quality time spent with an equine partner can be applied to life as well. My horse has been such a great teacher in refining how I react to situations and learning how to avoid a negative spiral of emotions. How fantastic that your site, where many may come because of your reputation as a dressage rider/master, has evolved to embrace life’s struggles and dreams.
While I don’t know if Karma or some mystical universal force exists, you don’t need to give it a name to see the results. If you put enough smiles on enough people’s faces, they will eventually bring one to yours. If you spread enough inspiration, it will eventually return to you. Enough positive energy, and there isn’t enough room for the negativity to take life and negative influences eventually get frustrated and leave.
Thank you for giving a place for positive, grand dreams to be placed to grow and flourish. And thank you for being somewhere to go to push us to look at the bright spots in our daily lives. It’s too easy to focus on the negative. But we can learn to make it more automatic to be positive.
Your parents must be fantastic people who know how to parent kids into a great adult! Way to go Mom!
John Deppen — July 15, 2009 @ 11:35 am
This is a great idea….finally a forum to express the ideas and dreams from people who are not recognized in a public venue. My dream (goal) is to have a facility that not only Promotes the best of Dressage, but is the “ground zero” in my area for training and sales. I am well on my way to accomplishing this dream. I want to purchase the 21 acres that surround my farm and make it a a little “Palm Beach Eq. Center.” Producing shows, clinics, sales and have under one roof the best of the area riders and trainers. This area is so behind the times where dressage is concerned, they try, but the overall picture is not good. Our participaition in the sport has declined and training is lacking. I just hope I dont die from the work before it happens….. I just need a few more million (LOL)
RDover2 — July 15, 2009 @ 11:42 am
Good Luck, John! Please let everyone know exactly where your training center is as well as your website for people to go to.
Best wishes!
RD
Jean Dover — July 15, 2009 @ 5:10 pm
Dear Robert,
I was thrilled to view Dover’s Dreams and Yours. I am happy to see that people are responding quickly and in such an affirmative way. If our chat helped make it happen I am truly glad I spoke up.
I read this in one of Dad’s “Bits & Pieces”
Many of our fears are tissue-paper thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.
It seemed to apply to all those who need the little encouragement they can get from writing to you.
Couldn’t love you more,
Mom
Flannery — July 16, 2009 @ 1:52 am
I think this taught me not to read your site before bed or I will have too much energy and lose significant sleep. That being said, thank you for being so thought provoking and being so interactive with the site; it’s great!
My dreams are fairly similar to those many dressage riders with a highly competitive spirit might have. You know, “bring out the best in each horse keeping them confident and happy, get to Grand Prix and compete with the best in the world (and win), see my country (the US) become the dominating force in international equestrian competition (not just dressage)” sorts of dreams. Then, I was thinking of what was feeding the motivation, excitement, and energy into achieving these things. What came to mind was something an old family friend told me when she swung by the arena a few weeks ago and quietly watched as I was riding my just started 3yr old. When I finally noticed her and rode up to her she said, “you still have that same excitement, pride, and joy when your mare gave that lovely trot to walk transition as you did when I watched you ride when you were about 13yrs old”.
I think my biggest and ultimate dream is to keep that feeling for horses and riding, share it with others, and never lose it and that will allow me down the path to continue striving for the other dreams.
Ralph Suarez — July 16, 2009 @ 9:04 am
Hello everyone. I finished reading a book by the name of WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? by Spencer Johnson. Inside this little book is a tough, little provocative question: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” I can’t stop thinking of this question and how I can answer it. So, I come here to read the latest happenings and lo and behold, I am back to this question. Weird, huh?
I love horses and I love dressage. I like the journey and the structure of the journey. I enjoy the relationship one is able to build with a horse. It’s electric. The unity, the harmony, the integrity of a goal that two living creatures are joining together to achieve and the fulfillment/happiness that one receives from working and living so closely with another living being, who is different. If I can somehow make this a daily aspect of my life, to create a place where people can come and at least, for the time that they have, escape, relax and enjoy themselves, so that they are able to go back to a sressful life, encouraged and inspired, then, that would be a great thing. Just to help people realize and become more aware of the beauty that is always happening, right before our eyes, so that people realize what a gift we have, every day, that would be amazing and my life will be well lived.
RDover2 — July 16, 2009 @ 3:05 pm
Well, I just have to say how beautiful the words those of you who have written in have been for me to read. I truly hope you will keep on sharing your dreams with me and others, and I will now share with you one of mine. I want you to know that this is by no means my only or even my greatest, though I admit it to be one of my fondest.
One of the great loves of my life is neither a person nor an animal; though again I admit that these two will always be my highest priorities and I will discuss one in my next “Dream Wish” with you all later. It is actually a place many of us simply refer to as “The Team” and it is the home of the United States Equestrian Team in Gladstone, NJ.
In one of my early posts, I recounted my very first time setting foot in the fantastic stables which also house the offices, living quarters, trophy room, and library. I remember the feeling of entering a building which felt as holy as a Church or Synagogue, but probably cleaner. Every last inch of this shrine to our top horses and riders from decades before was polished and gleaming and NEVER was even a shaving seen where it did not belong. Our great Jumping Coach, Bert de Nemethy, ran the Team as his ship and the riders and staff were the ever faithfull shipmates who ensured his exquisite attention to detail be applied each and every day in not only the care and training of the horses, but to both the interior and exterior of their home as well. Since Bert’s retirement, and because the team stopped being used as it was in his time, as a true “Training Center”, the facilities slowly fell more and more into disrepair. It is certainly partly a result of the nature of the Show Jumping business having evolved into one which sees the trainers and their students spending the greatest bulk of their time annually at the competitions as opposed to training at home or at a “center”.
Needless to say, over these many years I have been very emotional and sometimes even angry over the state of this place I called my second home for many years in my youth. It is absolutely nobody’s fault any more or less than it is all of our’s for letting it become so run down, but last month as I was there for the Festival Of Champions and it was being discussed that next year’s Championships will be the last one probably ever held there, a light came on in my head and I’ve been obcessing about it ever since, and want to share it with you now.
I dream of the “Gladstone Restoration and Beautification Project” which will ask for, recieve, and use funds not associated with those necessary to be used by our Federation to train and field teams, but rather will have the goal to bring the USET back to its former glory, and then some! This fantastic building and the much smaller but still substantial grounds associated with it need not have it’s story come to a close. By restoring what is truly an amazing Olympic Training Center, there is an enormous opportunity to bring back the days of De Nemethy, but now with the discipline priority being placed, instead of on Jumping, on Dresssage. The building and stalls are fantastic; the living quarters and indoor arena need to be refurbished with heavy emphasis being placed on making it the world-class facility it can and should be.
I dream about seeing training sessions and camps taking place there on a consistent schedule, and of nurturing top young athletes, both two and four-legged who may, as I did, take up residence, provided they understand that once again, they will be treated with the same respect as is expected of them in the care and maintenance of this sacred place. And I would be more than thrilled to march myself around daily, humbly remembering that I would be walking in the footsteps of Bert de Nemethy, who I am absolutely certain would be right there in spirit, thrilled to see his home once again with its wood and brass shining and bright! And there you have it - my Dream.
Cheers!
RD
Christy Scotch — July 16, 2009 @ 3:37 pm
Dear Robert,
I LOVE this new column on your site. Your mother is a wise woman. Your dream of the “Gladstone Restoration and Beautification Project” is an exciting one. I hope it is a dream that comes true.
As for me, I dream of one day riding in the Olympics. I’m a 37 year old adult amateur riding my first Dressage horse that I trained from Training Level up to PSG in the past 4 years…with occasional help from Conrad Schumacher clinics and a very talented trainer in our area.
My horse is only 8 now, and our first scores at PSG were 66.579%…BOTH days. We earned our Silver Medal in 2 weekends! I rode with Conrad in North Carolina in mid-April, and I haven’t had access to any training since then. I brought my mare out at PSG in mid-June at Poplar Place, and that’s when I feel like we really hit our groove as a team.
People ask me how we did it…without having a trainer in the conventional mode. My answer is, I don’t know. I just set goals, worked hard every day, tried to remember what Conrad and my trainer have told me, and did the best we could. Maybe it was luck. I don’t know.
Anyway, I know mine is a big dream, and I’m a little old to be even thinking about it…and a little embarassed to say it publicly…but it’s a dream nonetheless. I have no funds to actually do this, and my horse is currently for sale. (My husband lost his job back in April.) But I’m holding out hope nonetheless.
Jane Savoie — July 16, 2009 @ 6:31 pm
Geez, Robert…Sometimes I think you’re my alter ego.(Maybe it’s because we share the same love for “our” Mom!)
As you know, I very much believe in the Law of Attraction. It’s so important to put stuff out into the universe and stand back.
But part of the word “Attraction” is the word “Action”…so I also wholeheartedly agree that taking action means hard work and determination.
By the way, I also had the same feeling the first time I entered the stables at Gladstone in 1975. I kept reminding myself to stay in the moment and SAVOR every second I was there.
My dream–that people never put their own ambition ahead of the welfare of their animals.
Hugs,
Jane
Liz Austin — July 16, 2009 @ 9:20 pm
I don’t perfectly remember the first time I went to Gladstone (it was 1991 I think so I was only seven), but I remember the first time I went and competed there in 2006. Going into that trophy room I’ll never forget it. The stalls, the barn, the arena… Gladstone is so, so magic and I hope we can figure out a way for it to be part of the horse world for many, many years to come. It gives me goosebumps thinking about riding down the centerline there!
RDover2 — July 16, 2009 @ 9:53 pm
And, Liz, even more compelling is that you love it without having been able to see it as we “older folk” who remember when it was literally flawless!
I so wish for you and all the other young, talented riders that it might someday be brought back to its majestic self again!
RD
RDover2 — July 16, 2009 @ 9:56 pm
Hey, Gang, watch for my special “wish” tomorrow evening! Today’s I hope will come true but tomorrow’s I know, with everyone’s help, we can all make happen!
Cheers!
RD
RDover2 — July 17, 2009 @ 6:26 am
Thanks again for continuing to send your “Dreams” in. I also love when top pro’s
like Jane Savoie write in and share their wishes with us and hope more will follow her lead as their
thoughts can be so inspirational for us all to read.
RD
Isabel Munoz — July 19, 2009 @ 10:40 pm
Hi Robert,
Well, let me tell you one of my dreams……I’ve been dreaming of learning how to ride the upper levels and would LOVE to find a great GP schoolmaster to further my dressage education. I’ve been looking everywhere with no luck! I wouldn’t mind the horse being in the late teens (15-17), but certainly would have to be sound, solidly trained and with a wonderful temperament. Of course budget is important….and that’s where it’s a bit difficult. Most of the ones I’ve seen advertised are way over my budget[$30-$40K]. Anyone know of a wonderful schoolmaster available?
P.S. Great idea with this section!
SATP — August 5, 2009 @ 6:10 pm
I read your request to “say our dreams out loud” several weeks ago and I can’t get it out of my head. I think because I’m now being laid off from my job, I’ve tried to look outside the box a bit. I’ve worked in accounting all my life in office environments for big companies and see everyday the rich getting richer.
I love to do accounting (yes, I’m a pretty boring person) and have offered an exchange of services with my dressage trainer. She’s a great trainer - lovely rider, always thrilled about the nice horses that she’s able to ride, and a “real” person. (RD - you even know her!)
I have a great time doing some of her paper work and filling out show entries and finding out information about different horse related events and topics or whatever else she needs so she can spend more time in the saddle doing what she does best. She’s always enthusiastic and appreciative of what I’m able to do for her. For the first time, I’m passionate about something, and full of energy, and new ideas. I would really love to do this full time for horse folks because I feel that I’m truly helping someone. And it would allow folks to do what they do best and not worry so much about all the details.
It’s a small dream, but I don’t sell myself well, so I don’t know if I’ll ever allow it to grow or not. But it would be SO exciting.
RDover2 — August 5, 2009 @ 6:21 pm
Hi Shari.
I totally love your letter and am positive many people like your trainer could use your services.
There is a definite place for people trained as you are and the most important thing you can do is let people know who and where you are.
It is exactly why I want people to share their dreams on Dover’s World- so that by doing so the chance of them coming true is heightened.
Please let everyone know all your contact info and where you live so they can get in touch with you.
I am sure you will do very well!
Best wishes!
RD
SATP — August 8, 2009 @ 4:27 pm
Robert-
Just contact me and we can work out a plan that’s right for your needs!
Thank you so much for your kind encourgement. It’s always heartening to hear such a positive response.
So Folks per Robert’s request, I can be contacted at shari @ almon.net for help in keeping your books, organizing your schedules, filling out entry forms, etc. No job to small!
Thank you.
M.K. — June 28, 2010 @ 6:37 pm
My dream. Wow. Posted here. Amazing. I put a post on another section of DW with Robert’s permission and blessing, then happened along this ‘Dream’ page of the site. Why not. I am a military Iraq veteran, have struggled thru many disabilities, and currently live in Illinois - from the Naperville area originally, and my dream began last fall when I was finally able to find my horse. An 8 yo Hanovarian gelding 16.2hh and a great boy. Like many others in our country it turns out, I was unexpectedly laid off from my job…unfornately it was soon after my horse came along. It has been beyond difficult trying to find just one reputable barn that will allow me to keep my horse and do barn work in exchange for board at least part time, and my dream would be to work full time at a dressage barn. I also have an MBA, and there isnt anything I wouldnt do for the horses 7 days a week. Some people have been riding and working with horses their whole lives, but I’ve waited my whole life for this opportunity only to see it falling away ever so quickly from my finger tips. If I dont find something soon, I will lose my horse. There must be some career door open for my horse and I. msinei7@aol.com