Well, I want to be a great rider, so badly. I know that even great riders think they could be better. In fact, Emily and I were at a show last year watching the upper level riders go through their tests. Intermediare – wow! They seemed to float like beautiful dancers with their horses. It was amazing to watch. And then when they came out of the ring, they were mostly unhappy with their rides – this was off, that was late, the other thing was imperfect for some reason... Yet Em and I wanted to throw roses at their feet! What, I thought, do they want?!!!!
But I digress. Most of us will always be unhappy with what we do and so long as we don’t let our horses know we are unhappy, ok, we can engage in self effacement. (But you all know, we need to let the horses know they did great, because likely they did. If anything was off, it was probably our fault. And we don’t want their self esteem to suffer, ours suffering alone is sufficient.) So, back to the point... Why am I not a great rider?
Well, I have gone back to the books. Joe gave me a collection of articles and writings that illustrate most of the things he teaches. I went back to them. And I have a couple of books on dressage (ok, I’m lying, I have a whole library of books on dressage and other sundry horse topics), so I went to them. I started re- reading Charles DeKunffy, Training Strategies for Dressage Riders. Everything (mostly everything, I would say) that Joe has taught (tries to teach) me is in that book. How to use your hands, your legs, your weight, your .... well, all your parts. And as I read about each of my riding parts I was thinking, “check!” That’s right, none of it roused in me an “Oh my God, I didn’t know that!!!” It is all what I know I should be doing. So, that is what prompted my question, “Why am I not a great rider?” If I know what all my parts should be doing, why do I remain so brutally mediocre?
I don’t have an answer, it was a rhetorical question, I guess. I’m trying to figure it out. So far all I can think of is that my brain isn’t properly coordinating all my parts and that, oh yeah, my parts are old...and my horses are young. I’ll try again tonight. I will tell myself I am a better rider than I think, maybe that will help.
But I digress. Most of us will always be unhappy with what we do and so long as we don’t let our horses know we are unhappy, ok, we can engage in self effacement. (But you all know, we need to let the horses know they did great, because likely they did. If anything was off, it was probably our fault. And we don’t want their self esteem to suffer, ours suffering alone is sufficient.) So, back to the point... Why am I not a great rider?
Well, I have gone back to the books. Joe gave me a collection of articles and writings that illustrate most of the things he teaches. I went back to them. And I have a couple of books on dressage (ok, I’m lying, I have a whole library of books on dressage and other sundry horse topics), so I went to them. I started re- reading Charles DeKunffy, Training Strategies for Dressage Riders. Everything (mostly everything, I would say) that Joe has taught (tries to teach) me is in that book. How to use your hands, your legs, your weight, your .... well, all your parts. And as I read about each of my riding parts I was thinking, “check!” That’s right, none of it roused in me an “Oh my God, I didn’t know that!!!” It is all what I know I should be doing. So, that is what prompted my question, “Why am I not a great rider?” If I know what all my parts should be doing, why do I remain so brutally mediocre?
I don’t have an answer, it was a rhetorical question, I guess. I’m trying to figure it out. So far all I can think of is that my brain isn’t properly coordinating all my parts and that, oh yeah, my parts are old...and my horses are young. I’ll try again tonight. I will tell myself I am a better rider than I think, maybe that will help.