Effort to achieve supremacy means little if we forget what comes next

We all have our happy places. For me there's nowhere like the KZN Midlands. The lee of the Drakensberg is a deeply comforting area where my soul is recharged because people operate at a different speed and things so important to city-dwellers matter little.

It is also one of the best places on earth to raise the most noble of God's creatures, the thoroughbred. And a reminder of the philosophy of that industry's brightest star, the Italian Cavalry Officer turned racehorse trainer and breeder Federico Tesio. Peerless in his craft, Tesio never ran more than 30 mares on his 50 acre farm, yet a century and a half after his birth, 80% of all thoroughbreds carry the blood of his stallions.

My favourite Tesio quote is worth repeating: "All life is based on the consumption of energy to achieve supremacy, and then rest to recover the energy before beginning again the struggle for supremacy." We all find the effort part easy, but often forget the rest, without which it really doesn't matter. A bit like using a blunt saw to cut hard timber.