The Power of Positive Thinking… and Iris Ann Porter
By Barb Poulsen for Western Horse Review magazine - July 2007Jumping out of a plane, even with a parachute attached, takes a certain kind of optimism… so does walking over a bed of hot coals. For a woman who has done both with ease, it’s maybe not a big leap to see her start a barrel racing organization that by year three paid out $139,000. “I’m a cup half full kind of person,” Iris Ann Porter states, “I’m not afraid to go out on a limb.”
Turn, Burn and Earn is an exciting concept that has been steadily gaining ground in Western Canada since Iris Ann formed the organization four years ago. The positive “I can” attitude evident in all areas of her life, has contributed to Iris Ann Porter’s success - not only in barrel racing, but in many other endeavors as well.
A self-described workaholic, Iris Ann has earned her accolades through determination, ability and attitude. The middle child of seven, raised on a farm in Foam Lake, Saskatchewan, has called Calgary home since the late seventies. “I grew up in a two room house where recreation included riding Peggy, one of the farm work horses. We would lead the big clydesdale over to the hayrack so we could climb on… we rode bareback,” Iris Ann remembers. “We were too poor to have a saddle; we were lucky to eat.”
Raised in a place and time where educating girls was not a popular idea, Iris Ann, nonetheless, finished high school and made her way to Saskatoon where she took nursing, then later, additional education to become an operating room nurse. In the early days of her career, the vivacious blonde woman followed a path that led her to Alberta in 1977. Her nursing background helped Iris Ann gain a foothold in Sales with Baxter Corporation, an international medical supply company. At a time when men worked almost exclusively in this field, Iris Ann was the first woman hired in a sales position with Baxter. She won the company’s Distinguished Sales Award a year later and for the three years following, making her the first female recipient of the company’s President’s Award – and the first employee to earn the honour in only a four year period. “I was well paid and well decorated,” Iris Ann comments, “but I worked hard.
Iris Ann continued to prove herself in the workplace as she added a second career as a performance management expert and facilitator. Years of training, speaking and marketing with small business, major corporations and professional associations were key in Iris Ann’s company, Destiny by Design., which took her to conferences in Cleveland, Las Vegas and other North American centres. In 2002, she bought into her husband, Dwight Murray’s company, Calgary Powder Coatings Ltd., an industrial company that caters to the agricultural, oilfield and construction markets among others.
Her business successes notwithstanding, Iris Ann began to look outside the professional world at what she was missing. “I hadn’t ridden since I was 11 years old. I had always admired barrel racers and the beauty of horses, so when the opportunity came up to get back on a horse at age 53,“ she recalls, “I took it… and I was terrified. I asked the woman who owned the horse to lead me around and not let go of the rope!” That reaction was short-lived as Iris Ann leased a young mare shortly after so she could participate in the Heritage Cattle Drive.
Still too immersed in her career to see a way to add a horse to her daily routine, Iris Ann parked the idea for another year. “Then one morning,” she remembers, “I was sitting looking out the window of my Calgary home, wearing my housecoat as I staged my own private ‘work protest’… I started asking myself if in ten years, I would regret never owning a horse.” Always one to move forward, Iris Ann soon owned a horse, albeit a green broke horse. A clinic with Dee Butterfield followed, then lessons with Deb Renger. “Both Dee and Deb pointed out that things would go much better if I was learning on a more seasoned horse.” Iris Ann bought Otis, a sixteen year old high school horse. “It felt great to actually run a set of barrels on a horse that knew what he was doing,” she grins, “though people really gave Dwight and I some odd looks when we ‘high fived’ each other
after my first 27 second run.”Today, Iris Ann runs two horses, a 14 year old running bred gelding named Scotty and Texas, a 9 year old cutting bred gelding. Both Otis and her first green broke horse remain part of the family, the black horse as a pleasure mount for Dwight.
And what began as “a few jackpots where I didn’t really know what I was doing” in Iris Ann’s words, has progressed to Turn Burn and Earn, a full-fledged organization with 48 barrel races so far this year and a 5D Finals July 6 – 8 in Claresholm. The Finals pays well and offers saddles to all 5D level winners with a Pink Breast Cancer Awareness Saddle going to the Turn, Burn and Earn member voted most sportsmanlike and congenial by fellow members.
“My goal last year was to have 20 barrel races… Turn Burn and Earn ran 35 races in 2005-2006 with $139,000 paying out over the course of the season. Sponsorship is a huge key to the organization’s success, and one that Iris Ann is familiar with. Still, her commitment to ensuring all events are run with professionalism and a positive attitude mean both hours and miles. “I try to go to all the events.” Late spring saw her divide her time between races in Kamloops, BC, Tisdale and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan as well as events in Alberta.
Iris Ann credits others with helping her out, “There is no way Turn, Burn and Earn could have succeeded to this level without the ongoing support of our sponsors. And volunteers like Robbin Jacobson, who stick with me even when the times are tough and stressful; my daughter Nikki, an awesome announcer who can multi task, operate the computer; sort times, payouts and averages; my husband Dwight who has a good business head and who helps me brainstorm the vision and direction to take. Also Sharon Fergusson and Monica Wilson who play the unofficial role of Board of Directors because they are level headed and have copious barrel racing hosting experience. The people I surround my self with are forward in their thinking.”
With professionalism evident from the sponsors and event personnel right down to the artistic design of the business’ logo, Turn, Burn and Earn is here to stay… and has added another welcome dimension to the competitive barrel racing industry. While all races are in Canada at present, plans are in the works to try and add events in the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana.
The personal philosophy of the woman behind the organization shines through at every step of the way, “I live my life to the fullest potential with a positive perspective,” smiles Iris Ann. This approach has certainly had an impact on the lives of the many barrel racers who head down the road to a Turn, Burn and Earn event. To find out more, go to www.turnburnearn.com
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