Hundreds of years ago, horses and sailing ships were the most effective modes of transportation for man and cargo for land and sea travel. Sailing ships were the backbone of world trade. Appropriately, just like horses, sailing has provided many sayings that flavor our language. For example, “by the way”, “windfall” and “the bitter end” are expressions that are the contribution of sailors.
When a storm or accident at sea damaged a boat’s mast and rigging, sailors were forced to improvise the repair with any material they had on hand in order to get to home port. The term jury-rigging was first used to describe the creative repair process. Lately, I’ve noticed that folks on terra firma use jury-rigging methods on a regular basis, even if the right repair is readily available.
Let me confess first, I’ve done my fair share of jury-rigging for quick problem solving and enjoy the creative challenge. Give me locking pliers, duct tape and baling wire and I will find a way to fix anything. The problem with jury-rigging is that we often forget that it’s only a temporary solution.
When the jury-rigged ship got back to port, the vessel’s owners made a permanent repair. They knew the foolishness of sending a ship back out to sea with less than perfect sails and rigging. Failure to make the correct repair could endanger the health and safety of the crew and cause the loss of revenue from the cargo.
Put this next sentence in the “I wish someone had told me this long ago” column.
Successful professional horsemen are in business because they have already tried all of the jury-rigged shortcuts and know they don’t work.
All of us are interested in saving money and one of the best ways to save money over the long ride is to make permanent repairs.
Many professional horsemen and women live jury-rigged personal and business lives with the notion that they are saving money. They are masters at creating jury-rigged: stalls, gates, round pens and indoor arenas.
Their computers, accounting systems, marketing plans and horse related income streams are “rigged” and lack reliability. Their personal lives have jury-rigged: relationships, organization memberships and finances.
It’s a daily affair of energy sucking tolerations that saves the chronic jury-rigger neither time nor money.
If you are living in a duct tape world, make a commitment to make permanent repairs to your jury-rigging. You’ll feel more confident and in control with every permanent repair you make to tighten up your “horsemanship”.