Monday, June 15, 2009

From the outside looking in

Ok,so I'm gonna admit - writing on this blog is a form of therapy for me (and God knows all eventers need some sort of therapy!). It allows me to get out what I'm hashing about, instead of continually beating my brain up. A very good thing...

So since P's been off the last week, I've been giving alot of thought to our ride at Lumber River. That, coupled with some timely conversations with my clients, has made me reflect a bit on how, as riders, we emotionally handle things.

Here's the thing... P was AMAZING on the cross country in VA - a bit green but very good; stellar in the show jump; super in the dressage at LR; a bit bored in the show jump; and an absolute dream for 3/4 of the cross country course. Sounds like pretty good odds, right?

Then why do I have those thoughts, like, "what if eventing isn't what he wants to do?"

I think these sorts of things are what all riders go through. I think it's normal to have those questions - 'Why am I doing this?' 'Is this the way I should be going?' 'Am I crazy?' (haha - maybe I'm the only one that thinks the last one). And I think I figured out why...

Many of us put so much time and invest so much of ourselves in our horses that we are crushed over the slightest thing. As eventers, this becomes even harder, because a small miscalculation can lead to a poor result - even if 98% of the weekend was awesome. We take things to heart, we over-analyze, we question...

And then we form a plan of attack.

Now I'm forming my plan of attack. I've got an amazing horse that got a bit overwhelmed, and now I need to build his confidence so he understands the questions well enough to take charge once again. Today he starts back hacking, my new saddle should be arriving sometime this week, and the future is looking bright!

Here's to regrouping, and moving on torwards bigger and better things.

1 comment:

Jen said...

Hang in there! Seems like you have his best interests at heart, and if eventing's not P's thing, you WILL figure that out. Your pics are just gorgeous, by the way:)