Newsletter
Director’s Report
Judith Hopkins
I am always amazed when one of our students or instructors shares work from a TTR class
with me. Often what the girls have written or photographed says volumes more about the experience they are having here than any
quantitative summary or evaluation can. Their lives change in ways we’ve come to expect (more confidence, improved teamwork, selfdiscovery)
from attending our programs, but there are also unanticipated improvements
that sometimes surprise me: girls getting along better with their parents, getting better grades at school, and taking on leadership positions not only at the barn but in other community organizations as well.
Included in this newsletter are two testimonials: one from Kristen and the other from Stacie. Kristen is a recent graduate of UC Santa Cruz. She attended TTR all through middle school and high school and still pops in once in awhile to see everyone. Stacie is a middle school student at Virgil Middle School
and she has been coming to Taking the Reins for the past year. In essence what both of these young women write about is how their experiences here at Taking the Reins encouraged them to grow, to dream, and to step up with a willingness to try something different, to trust in the process and not be so
concerned with the final outcome.
As adults, we spend a great deal of time concerned about final outcomes. We are always trying to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of what we do and at times, wondering if we could do it faster, cheaper, and more efficiently. When people come to Taking the Reins, all agree that it is very unique. It feels like a place that “time forgot”; there are not many modern amenities and
there’s ample open space. I suppose one could consider it charmingly quaint, but I think what makes Taking the Reins a special place is it is a place where the process of doing something, like grooming a horse and working with a
particular horse and doing it well, is more important than how quickly or efficiently one does something. It is a place where girls learn to pay attention to the details, to value the process of working with a horse and with each
other, to take one’s time, to do it with purpose and not cut corners.
I think one of the most important lessons girls take away from Taking the Reins is a willingness to try something and not get hung up on whether or not it succeeds. We are giving girls room, literally and figuratively to figure things out. We are planting the seed that it is only one’s fear of failure that limits our
successes. Reading Kristen and Stacie's stories makes me realize how learning to trust yourself and to trust the process of doing something difficult are one and the same. Both open you up to new experiences and allow you to
blossom. I am thrilled girls are having such transformational experiences here and hope that the insights of these two young women inspire you as they have me.