Two interesting articles in March 08 Practical Horseman

I should say, two especially interesting articles, since I tend to enjoy the entire magazine and I usually skim it once, then read it thoroughly the second time. And since I am just now doing the skim of March '08, I'm a bit behind.
For those of you who don't subscribe, well, first of all, I think it's totally worth it. But, you can still access a bunch of their articles online: http://www.equisearch.com/practicalhorseman/
The first interesting article was in Cross Country with Jim Wofford, which is my favorite part of the magazine. And the article was about whether you're ready for the next level, not just qualified. And it had a "rate your riding" chart (charts are one of my favorite nerdy things), and at first, I got all upset because I was a solid Level 4.0 on a scale of 1 - 10.
A 4 in dressage: "Introduced to bending and flexion. Can effectively apply aids for simple transitions. Knows basic geometry of lower-level dressage figures."
A 4 in show-jumping: "Jumps safely without stirrups over low fences. Cantering 8-10 fences at an even rhythm is still a challenge. Does not yet recognize distances." (For the record, when I was young, I was much better.)
A 4 in cross-country: "Introduced to simple xc combinations. Beginning to influence the approach on a familiar horse. Comfortable at 350 mpm."
And a whopping 6 in horsemanship: "Drops back one skill level on an unfamiliar horse. Able to develop own feeding chart and conditioning schedule. Knows requirements for worming and teeth floating. Safely administers IM and IV injections."
Then I read the sidebar. Level 9-10 riders compete at 4*; Level 8 at 3*; and "so on down the scale." So a Level 7 is a 2*; Level 6 is a 1*; and Level 5 - where I'll be next year - is the little local shows. Perfect! It's taken me 15 years, but I'm in exactly the right place to really start moving up. Because I'm never going to a 4* and probably never a 3*.
For example, a 7 in horsemanship was 1,000 hours of riding instruction. Now that doesn't seem like so much until you consider 1 lesson per week 50 weeks a year would take you 20 years to meet that requirement. And had I ridden consistently the past 15 years, I'd sure be a lot better than I am now.
Anyway, I thought it was a really interesting and useful way to look at where you are, where you want to go, and where you've been. Where you've been helps me stay focused and positive about the future, instead of depressed over how I'm not ever where I want to be.

The other interesting article was by Jessica Jahiel, and it was about learning style. There's three styles: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. I've always assumed I was a visual learner because I prefer reading over listening, but I realized with the little quiz, is that I'm pretty solidly a kinesthetic learner. It was a surprise, and then really, really clear. Neat.

Finally, Alice finally emailed back and said Bob is not willing to travel (15 miles) to give me lessons. I'm extremely disappointed, but it's what I expected. I think I can do ok for a couple more months on my own, but then I'm going to need to find a new trainer. There are several trainers at the new barn, but they appear to be mostly for beginners, except for one show jumper guy, and I don't want to go back to that focus right now. I hope that by next spring I'll have sold Mercury, so I can get a truck and a trailer, and then I can travel for lessons, but for now, I'm going to need to start asking around to find a trainer I work well with who is willing to travel. It's just discouraging because I totally respected Bob, and worked really well with him as my instructor. He is hands down the best trainer I have ever had.