The Project: 
One Mustang directly off the range
One trainer
No tools
Just body language
The Goal:
To discover how far Equestrian Art can be developed solely using body language.
Good Enough?
For me there is a certain rhythm to being a parent. You get up in the morning, breakfast, shower, lunches made, plans for the day gone over, then it is one foot in front of the other through the day and you hope it is good enough to set your most precious charges up for the rest of their life.
Art never seems that simple. It happens through you, in spite of your logical mind, it is the brilliance that shows up between the lines. Art is limitless and always leaves me wondering, is it good enough, did I open my mind wide enough and dream big enough, Did I color far enough outside the lines?
Horses are my art. This project is me stretching what I thought was possible, a little farther, a little wider, challenging myself endlessly with the question… is it good enough?
Today I want to thank John Sinclair. The majority of photographs you see on this blog were taken by him. I was lucky enough to have been married to him for eight years, and though the idea of marriage didn’t work out for us as planned, he did broaden my ideas of what is possible in a monumental way over the stretch of life we spent together. With John there was no idea too crazy or daunting. Everything was worth exploring, every idea had merit and potential.
Living with John gave me courage to think bigger. So while, with out a doubt, I sometimes curse him for that, I am also profoundly grateful. Taking on projects that seem daunting and out of reach makes my life richer and brighter and more vivid than it otherwise might be. When I find myself wondering, will it be good enough, can I really pull it off? I have this amazing set of projects to look back on. Living with John made for a rich history of ventures embarked on with the support of his unending optimism. While not all our projects were success stories, they all added a shape and color and depth to my life that having experienced, I would never pass up.
That gives me courage. This project, this new Mustang, embarking on a training project with my hands metaphorically tied behind my back.
Actually, the training and horses are an art form familiar and comfortable. Larger in scope than what I am used to, but none the less comfortably familiar. It is the documentation of the project that leaves me shaking. Buying the camera, buying a computer that can handle hours of video editing, enlisting my friends and family to stand behind the camera while I work through the interesting parts of this next year. Hopefully I can talk my friends with cameras into helping with the still shots.
The end result- will it be good enough? I don’t know; however, I do know my life will be richer for the attempt, and that is what matters, right?
“Let us be reminded that in the end only three things matter – how fully you lived, how deeply you loved and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for You”
John, thank-you for all the photographs. Thank-you for all the website help, and technical support. Thank you for all the years you walked beside me and helped me think bigger than I would have by myself. Thank you for being such a great Dad to our daughter. I wouldn’t be where I am witho
ut you, and where I am is pretty thrilling.
One Mustang directly off the range
One trainer
No tools
Just body language
This project is my art.
Elsa Sinclair
4 Comments
Dear Elsa, I have expected no less, but you have gone farther than I have imagined, and thank you for that. You have provided, direct, blunt answers to many of my vexing problems, but this is lyrical, a gentle, persistent song, that penetrates to the core of YOUR problems. Cheers to you, Lady! 😉 Michael
Just simply a beautiful acknowledgment of a life shared with no regrets. Thank you, there is so much about you that I am getting to know and appreciate. Thank goodness you are doing this blog so I can get your wisdom at least once a week.
“Will it be good enough?” Yes, it will always be good enough, because no matter what happens, you (we) can always get lessons out of everything happening around/with us, whether we consider it to be either ‘successful’ or a ‘failure’.
“Let us be reminded that in the end only three things matter – how fully you lived, how deeply you loved and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for You”
Beautiful, do you know whose quote this is Elsa?
Marja, Thanks for the reassurance, it’s great to hear it from a different perspective. I don’t know where the quote is from. A friend of mine passed it on to me, I will try to remember to ask her where she found it.
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[…] Elsa Sinclair wrote this marvelous post on her blog, entitled “Good Enough“. I’ve ridden with her a couple of times, before I left for college, and she is an […]
[…] Elsa Sinclair wrote this marvelous post on her blog, entitled “Good Enough?“. I’ve ridden with her a couple of times, before I left for college, and she is an […]
[…] Elsa Sinclair wrote this marvelous post on her blog, entitled “Good Enough?“. I’ve ridden with her a couple of times, before I left for college, and she is an […]