Earlier this month, Back on Track had the great good fortune to be on hand at Alberta’s Bar None Ranch when dazzling mare Gone in a Whisper foaled a filly – sired by the also-dazzling Gayego – in what is and has always been nature’s surest sign of spring.
The birth was also a reminder that, despite the chaos that has descended like a curtain across the planet as COVID-19 has spread – upending lives and livelihoods in a way that was unthinkable mere weeks ago – life does go on. And not only that: life continues to deliver moments of genuine beauty even as it undergoes tense new realities.
Like virtually every other business under the sun, Back on Track Canada has had to quickly face this new world order, trying to figure out the best way forward. We have watched with apprehension as our deeply valued customers and dealers, without whom we simply could not exist, have struggled to navigate treacherous waters without any kind of GPS.
The scope and uncertainty of this pandemic is truly breathtaking.
Yet we also recognize that our business relationships are unique, even intimate. We help people and their cherished horses and dogs lead better, more comfortable, and more productive lives. Because of that, and because Back on Track is, at its core, a company of people serving other people, we feel duty-bound to address the COVID-19 crisis directly, with meaningful dialogue that will unite us and, hopefully, inspire one another to work creatively to combat – and ultimately spring back from – this devastating situation.
In the coming days and weeks, this dialogue may take many forms: blog posts, social media posts, videos, interviews with business leaders, experts, and innovative thinkers and, ideally, a steady stream of feedback and idea exchanges from our customers, clients , and friends.
We want to focus on a strategy for getting our lives and our animals’ lives back on track right now.
Part of that strategy, we feel, must include a relentless ambition to find positives amid the difficulties even while acknowledging that many aspects of the Horse and Dog world, from competitions to spectator events, will be forever altered in ways we can’t predict.
We are living in a messy world where the 2020 Summer Olympic Games have been postponed and the 2020 edition of the “Greatest Outdoor Show on Earth,” the Calgary Stampede, has been cancelled. Clearly, nothing can be taken for granted. But good things can be recognized in tandem.
Spring is still arriving and with it, wobbly foals, soaring birdsong, sunny afternoons and maybe, a clear path forward to better days. With our tagline of “prepare, perform, recover” serving as a kind of ad-hoc roadmap, Back on Track is endeavoring to be part of the solution as we all hope for a new future.
Share with us how you are coping and spending time during this pandemic! Post on Facebook and Instagram and tag us @BOTCanada (Facebook) and @backontrackcanada (Instagram). Looking forward to seeing all of your wonderful posts.
