Coaching riders, training horses, judging horses – I’ve my living observing horses and riders!
As a riding coach, I act as a mirror. Reflecting what I see. Choosing words as descriptively and simply as I can.
“What if..?” Scenarios of doom leave us sleepless the night before a horse show, tongue tied in a difficult conversation.. Or gripping the reins, white knuckled.,
Looking back, half of what I’ve worried about hasn’t happened. So why let worry eat up the joy of today?
I’m cautiously following my post, In Praise of Horse Show moms – a tribute to my own horse mom and cheerleader)-with the OTHER kind of horse show mom. Sharing the same breed characteristics as the intense hockey dad, this mom advocates fiercely for (and rides vicariously through) her young equestrian.
The results of this study were not what I was expecting!
Turns out, researchers found, despite what many people think, good exercise balance isn’t what makes a good rider. But that isn’t because balance isn’t important -it just has to be the RIGHT balance.
THUMP . You look back and see your horse knocked down two elements in the trail walkover obstacle in your pre-class warmup. You’d carefully set and measured the distance for success only to have your horse dismantle it… again. It’s a picture of our walk through this pandemic. A yearlong series of one hurdle after another…
As a kid, I never knew what Good Friday was all about. Overshadowed by Easter Bunny anticipation, I knew it had something to do with Jesus and a cross, but I sure didn’t know why He died…As horse show competitors, we’ve got to ride by the rules…
In my travels teaching riding clinics, ‘“talking horse” with equestrians from various disciplines, the subject of western pleasure often comes up with the dressage and hunter/jumper riders I meet. NO discipline is without its fads and extremes. Dressage, show jumping, reiners and gaited horses have been called out for unethical practices and “unnatural” training techniques.
“Blessed are the flexible for they shall not be bent out of shape.” I describe suppleness in training horses as lack of “brace” – longitudinally or laterally.
Horse shows can pull families together…and sadly, others apart. As coaches, let’s do our part to support our families – they’re the building blocks of our communities and nation in a messy world.
Some my sculptures, done when I was 20 yrs. old. Although I sold my kiln and tools when training horses and coaching riders became my career, I’m still in the business of sculpting horses and riders!