BAD ATTITUDE OR BAD DAY...NO EXCUSES!

Life is such that it gets more interesting by the day. More especially if you
have anything to do with the media. Activity in horse racing media takes the
cake as their is almost never a dull day. With the industry being so small
relative to mainstream South African sporting media, there always seems to
someone or the other who can't handle the heat.

This was certainly the case in a recent event that I encountered. This
unfortunately, for those gossips, amongst us isn't a name and shame column but
rather highlights issues of concern.

I had an experience recently where I ran into a well known racehorse trainer.
The individual has always been a decent guy, easy to talk to and approachable. I
was horrified, to say the least, when he totally snubbed me and then went on to
say, "I have nothing to say to you," when I greeted him, this was
after he acted as if I was glass on my first attempt to greet. In any event, I
just walked away in disgust at this deplorable behaviour.

Sadly this breakdown in communication is actually a bit of a loss to our
famed SAHorseracing.COM not to mention the trainer himself. He obviously took
out the majority of his frustration on me for something that obviously didn't
tickle his fancy on the SAHorseracing site. Even more disappointing was the fact
that I have very little to do with the editorial on the site. In fact my role is
very much on the managerial front.

In any case this is not the first time that this has happened and sadly won't
be the last. I am a rather thick skinned fellow by now and it won't stop us from
writing it as we see on the site. Our racing friends know us for being tough
when needs be but fair as well. The thing is that this individual has had some
glowing comments from us recently, so if you can't take the bad, please don't
take the good either. Typical behaviour of a personality in racing but to paint
the horseracing training ranks with this brush will one serve to be an injustice
to the trainers out there who value the coverage of the media.

There are numerous books on communication and personal leadership, one of the
most popular being Steven Covey's 7 habits of highly effective person.
Never one not to learn from ones mistakes, I always take the time to analyse a
situation, good and bad. Then I try to grow from it. This is one book that helps
with effective means of personal growth.