Friday, January 26, 2018

Things I wish I had known a year ago

I've been puttering around with this post in my head for a while, and it's still kind of jumbled. But there are some things I've learned in the past year that I wish I'd known at the start of the year.

Stop talking down about yourself, your riding, and your horse. No, I'm not God's gift to riding, and no, Taran is not going to the Olympics. But that doesn't mean I have to be self-deprecating about everything. If someone gave us a compliment, I used to make a snarky negative comment. Now, if someone gives us a compliment, I say something like "Thank you, we've really been working on that and he tries so hard for me". I'm not trying to be a prima donna about it, but I don't need to put us down either, because if you say enough negative things, you start to believe them. Instead, I now tell Taran that he's awesome on the daily, because if he thinks he's awesome, he acts like it (seriously, you should see him puff up!).  Pretty soon, you'll both believe it, and that makes a huge difference in your outlook on life!

Repeat after me: My horse is awesome. My horse is awesome. My horse is awesome. 

Visualize everything. Over the summer, I read "That Winning Feeling". Mostly what it talks about is the power of positive thinking (see above) and the value of visualizing your movements and tests and how you're going to ride them. The more detail you visualize, the more you can trick your body into thinking that you've actually done something over and over again. I practiced a lot of tests in my head, and it really helped. In fact I was in the middle of one test and momentarily blanked on where to go next, but my body knew because I'd visualized it so much, and we had already started the next movement. For the record, I forgot exactly 0 tests in 2017, so sample size of N=1 says visualization really works!
Seriously, go buy this thing - it's worth every penny. Best sports psychology advice I've ever gotten, even if the author's hairstyle is a bit 1980s.

Be honest with yourself and with your trainer about your goals. In my second ride with GP trainer, she asked me what my goals were. I flat-out told her I wanted to ride Grand Prix. She told me that I'd probably need another horse, and I agreed but told her I wanted to see how far we could get with Taran, because he's what I have right now. Knowing my goals, she pushes me harder than she does some of her other students. She makes comments like, "Don't show up again without spurs because you need them for FEI" or "go back and do that transition because that's not going to fly at 4th". She knows where I want to go and that I'm willing to work to get there. Which leads to...

Let's just lay all the cards out on the table, mmkay?

Get the best trainer that you can afford, and that works for you and your horse. When you have a trainer who has ridden at the top, and taken students to the top, that person has more tools in their toolbox than someone who hasn't. They can see the path to get you where you want to go and they understand what it takes to get there. My original trainer is lovely, and taught me a great deal about correct basics, but early last year we both realized that I had outgrown her. I struggled with moving on to someone else, but it was definitely the right thing to do. Having the right person teach you - AND one who believes in your horse - really makes all the difference.

For me having someone with a sense of humor is helpful, because while my horse is awesome, he's not always awesome is the ways I was hoping for. 

Doing second level well takes longer than you think. We got our bronze medal scores our first time out at 2nd, and looking back on those tests, they were cringe-worthy. In hindsight, I feel like we moved up to 2nd and faked our way through 2-1, but there's a year's worth of training and building strength between faking the first test and owning the last test. It takes a HUGE amount of strength, straightness, and balance for a horse to correctly perform movements like canter-walk (not to mention the rider's aids and timing), and I didn't realize just how much until quite late in the year. It didn't help that Taran was (unknowingly) struggling with PPID, but even so, all of our second level movements improved 100% over the course of the year. And there's still A LOT of room for improvement! It's hard not to rush through when you've got all the movements, but patience pays off to make them solid. The step from first to second is REALLY big, so give yourself and your horse time.

April 2017 medium trot - downhill and running


November 2017 medium trot - uphill with suspension

Fitness matters. Dear 2018 self, get yo lazy ass off the couch and get back to jogging and yoga. Seriously, I hate this one the most. I HATE jogging with a burning, fiery passion. I hate going to the gym. But late last summer I was jogging about a mile a day (don't laugh), and doing 20 mins of yoga daily, and it helped my riding so much. I know there are folks out there who run 5 miles every day and do crossfit and all that, and I just cannot understand how you make yourself do it. But I've seen first hand how much being even just a little more fit makes a difference in my riding, so really. This is my advice to me every year: GET OFF YO ASS.

Moo is definitely not helping with the fitness plans.

Don't compare yourself to others. This is hard, because we all look at what our friends or fellow bloggers are doing and lament how much slower we are moving than they are or how much better they did at the last show or whatever. Here's the thing - every horse/rider/trainer/barn/life situation is different. Be happy for your fellow riders who are doing their thing - whatever that thing is. Cheer them on. Tell them they are awesome. They've worked just as hard to get where they are as you have to get where you are. But your journey is your own, and you should revel in it. Constantly compare yourself and you are going to come up short every time. Measure success in your own way instead - and be sure to develop a healthy sense of humor for when things don't work out quite as planned.

I admit, I'm a teeny bit jealous of Jan getting her bronze medal last year. But in reality, she's worked her ass off and I'm so proud of her and excited for her and Penn. Being happy for her successes (and everyone in blogland) doesn't take anything away from me. Instead I get to share your journeys and celebrate with you.

Take omeprazole when you give it to your horse. Seriously, do you have to give yourself ulcers before every show? I do, and I've just had to admit that it's best if I take human omeprazole when I give Taran his. At least that way I don't want to throw up nearly as much.

I've come to the realization I might as well buy it in bulk.

So... what do you wish you had known at the beginning of last year? What advice would you pass on to someone else?

Sunday, January 21, 2018

2017 - what an incredible year!

At the beginning of last year, I made a list of things that I hoped would happen. I set some very reasonable goals for myself and some really far-fetched ones, but even so we accomplished more than I ever thought possible.

Despite all his accomplishments, I still have to hold his ears up for pictures.

My goal of getting my bronze scores at second level was accomplished my first time out, and honestly it felt like a little bit of a cheat. There's so much more to second level than getting a 60% on 2-1, so those scores were the beginning of a much longer journey. By the end of the year we we scoring solidly mid 60s on 2-3, with plenty of room for improvement on pretty much everything (I'm looking at you, TOH).

Our haunches in game was pretty strong, despite my lovely habit of collapsing.

Along the way, we picked up three USDF Dover medals. This award is given to the highest scoring AA at 2-3 at a USDF rated show. It's honestly something that was never on my radar, because let's face it, mid 60's isn't a terribly high score. But we got lucky at several shows where there were only a couple of riders in the class, many were out for the first time, and they weren't on super fancy horses. So while I feel like the stars aligned for us to win those medals, I'm definitely not going to turn them down!


And because we got three of them, we also won a Dover National Merit Award - 37th in the nation, with an average score of 65.122. I even got a trophy - my first ever!

Maybe it's more of a scotch tasting glass than a trophy?

I also signed us up for the National Pony Cup Small Horse awards. We ended up first place at first level AA, third place 2nd level AA, and 5th place freestyle AA. 

And really, I signed up for the satin. I swear this rosette is bigger than my head.

Taran got his USDF 2nd level Performance award, for having 10 scores over 60% at second level (including 4 scores at 2-3). I got my USDF 2nd level Rider award as well. I also ended up getting my 1* rating from centerlinescores.com, which is kind of cool. I do wish our average scores at 2nd were a little higher - our poor showing at Nationals really brought it down.



Not only did Taran and I qualified for regionals at first level and first level freestyle, we also qualified at second level (although that was a long shot goal for the year). Our placing at regionals on the 1-3 national qualifying test was kind of sad, and I ended up scratching the SWDC championship 1-3 class. However, we were 7th in the national first level freestyle qualifier, and got a wildcard qualifying score. We were also 4th (behind 3 pros) on the SWDC first level freestyle championship, so I am pretty pleased with that. We actually beat all the AAs who beat us in the national qualifier, so it just goes to show that some days everything goes really well. And for the 2nd level national qualifier, my goal was not to come in last. So when we ended up third in a strong field, I was absolutely thrilled. We'd put in the best test of the year for that ride and I just couldn't have asked for more.

It was also eleventy bajillion degrees at regionals, which is why we both look kind of wilted.

As for my first level freestyle at Nationals... well, you know how awesome that turned out. The victory lap around the Alltech Arena at Kentucky Horse Park was pretty much the icing on the top of a fairy tale year.

Love.

The hardest thing about this year was keeping Taran happy, healthy, and sound. We struggled with intermittent soundness issues, ulcers, a broken tooth, and of course the PPID (Cushings) diagnosis. We seem to have found the right combination of sneakers, feed, and doses of Prascend, so hopefully we can continue to check this goal off the list.

Let's not do this again, mmkay?

As for the "crazy" goals I had this year... I did ride 3-1 at a schooling show, even though I didn't have changes. And obviously we didn't get our bronze medal scores at third. But I'm feeling like those things are going to be more than obtainable in 2018, and I'm SO looking forward to it!

Because I have hands down THE BEST pony EVER!