Inches

This video will give you goose bumps. 

                                                 (Sorry about the language)

I’ve seen it before, but after our last go round at Longview I watched it with a fresh perspective.

I’ve been fighting an internal battle, trying to find a balance between being happy and being a perfectionist.  By purposely expecting less than perfection, I’ve swung the pendulum in the opposite direction.  I’ve been happily, slowly bring the next horse along.  Whereas, I used to ride each movement with clarity of mind, focus and precision, now my clarity is clouded, my focus fuzzed, precision periodic and I’m not happy with the results.  I could make excuses, but when it comes down to it, I just can’t give an inch.

To win, even to be competitive you have to ride every stride, every inch.  A moment’s loss of concentration and you’re out of the ring – eliminated, or at least out of contention.  Yet you can’t yield when something goes wrong, because it always will.  You have to pick yourself up outside the ring and jump back in.  You have to kick on after a terrible first fence and finish your course.  You have to keep fighting for that clarity, focus and precision one inch at a time in order to survive.

Thankfully, any sport with horses is a team sport.  No one is perfect all the time and you have your partner to pick up the slack when you let go.  They’ll take the inch for you, but only if it is a team.  That means you’ve spent time establishing a relationship, not dominance but a partnership where both rider and horse agree to some common rules and goals.  Obviously you can’t make Mr. Ed sign a contract, but by never giving an inch in your standards, he’ll quickly learn where the boundaries lie.

It takes time. Teams come together in the tough times when one must rely on the other.  Horses quickly learn which humans bring the food, which human digs the rock out of their foot, which human sits up with them all night when their tummy hurts.  Humans aren’t so smart.  It generally takes a pretty spectacular save on the horse’s part to show us they have our backs, but they do.  And while the tough times form the team, the good times cement it.

So for a Fresh Perspective, remember every inch is worth fighting for.  Whether you’re forming a partnership or riding the last fence on your way to a victory gallop, ride every stride.  Take every inch.  Then celebrate.  You’ll have way more fun if you do it right!