But Dad!

If you must know my master argument in getting a new horse is already in motion! It has gotten to the magical moment where I even have support from my mom, and she is not easy to confront. Anyway, luckily I have had time to read chapter 4 and now I have even more information in order to make my best arguments in this long process of getting my horse. We will now focus on Pathos, Logos, and Ethos. This is not new information for me but I had never considered it to be part of this context. The first step as I read is Logos. It all starts with concession meaning I can use whatever my dad skillfully says and just use it against him to win points. Just like Aristotle said, every point has its flip side. Last night it was all centered on two options we had. The first was I could go to Germany to ride and pick out the horse that best suited me. Second, we could send my trainer to try the horse or just see a video and decide if she was really worth just bringing here without riding her beforehand.

My dad thought it was extremely unnecessary to travel all the way to Germany and that just by seeing the video it would be enough. It was hard not to lose all control and just snap at his ignorant remarks that once again proved he obviously knows nothing about the sport. How on earth does he want me to pick my next dream horse, my next partner in crime without being able to see her face to face? Instead I thought back to the book, calmed down and looked at my options. First I was going to go for the easiest: Logos.

Logos: Look dad it’s simple, from all of our friends that have brought horses from USA or from Europe, when have you heard of them making such a huge investment that is based on a forty second video? What if the horse gets here and oh what a surprise she hates water jumps and bucks when she feels threatened? Taking such a risk is unreasonable and excuse me for what I am about to say, idiotic on so many levels!

Now it is time I sympathize with my dad. This does not mean I share his reluctant mood when we talk about the issue, it just means I will play along to whatever he says and step by step I will change my emotions towards the situation hoping he does the same.

Pathos: Dad you can’t spend all your money on this one horse they sent a video on. Think about it, you work non-stop and travel non-stop in order to financially support my passion for horses, and yet here you are throwing your money up in the air and hoping nobody catches it. You deserve a great deal on our next horse, we as a family deserve a horse that won’t break after every competition because expenses just keep accumulating.

I have only gotten this far, but as you can see by sharing his views on the situation he actually seemed to relax and actually consider my proposal. I even went straight ahead and mentioned the whole awkward part of the conversation which was the cost of the damn horse! I knew he felt it was all too much, so I just agreed 99.9% with him making sure I gave him full credit for his effort.