I think I’m a slow learner.
That must be why God has blessed me with so many opportunities to start
over.
As I was riding earlier this week, I was struck by how far my
perceptions have come. When we start
riding all we worry about is direction and speed. Sometimes we just worry about the speed! In time we gain a little more fineness and we
start to think about our position. After
what seems like decades of working on our position, some of us start to think
about how we can influence the giant beast that has dutifully be toting us
around the arena all this time. Some of
us learn rules so that we can play games and win ribbons. Some of us just keep worrying about that
illusive basic balanced seat and others strive toward harmony with their horse.
The truly wonderful part of life with horses is that they
simply cannot be conquered. They aren’t
a mountain to be climbed, but more of a mountain range to be thoroughly
explored and no one has enough life span to find every nook and cranny and turn
over every leaf.
Even if I only count my “main horses,” the horses into which I
have poured seasons of my life, I’m on number seven now. Each one has taken me places I would never
have anticipated. I have learned so many
lessons along the way. I feel like I
should “get it” by now, but I don’t. The
more I ride, the more I realize that my blanket of knowledge is more like a mosquito
net with thousands of tiny holes. But
that’s okay.
The goal isn’t some fancy shiny illustrious career in the
limelight. The goal is enjoying the
journey and what a journey I’m having.
We’ve taken the plunge and are in the process of breeding
Nutmeg. We will know in a couple of
weeks if tries one through four were successful. I was ridiculously excited after our first
successful attempt. Then Nutmeg had a
moderate bout of gas colic and I realized that we were on a very long and rickety
road toward having a healthy foal. I’m
still looking forward to the trip, but I have returned to cautious
optimism. If Nutmeg taught me only one
thing in our time competing together, it was to never count your ribbons before
you make it soundly to the winner’s circle.
Ryder and I have been having our growing pains. We will have some soaring successes followed
by several less than stellar rides. He
is entered in his first show of the year this weekend. We will be playing in the baby classes at the
Longview Dressage show both Saturday and Sunday. My plan is to use the dressage show as a
dress rehearsal for the event at Longview the following weekend. Ryder has been to a few shows and I certainly
have the routine down, but it will be good to have a dry run though together
before we head off to tackle his first event.
I’m looking forward to the coming season and the road trips
it holds. We are going to put a little
more focus on learning and a little less focus on competing this year. It will be a nice change of perspective. I have started over so many times, but I gain
a better understanding of the process every time. I’m looking forward to turning over some new
leaves, filling a few holes, and enjoying the scenery as we pass it by.
Note: This video's language may offend some. Fair warning.
