The Aspen Farms Derbies are quickly approaching.
The first derby is March 8, and I heard through the grapevine that it is expected to be full so no registrations the day of like in past years.
The second derby is April 5.
The entry form is available here: http://www.aspenfarmseventing.com/afhorsetrial07.asp
The classes are jumping only, from hopeful to prelim, with beginner novice starting at 9 am and prelim starting at 3 pm. Classes are $25 each.
Without NWEC, the first show this year is EI's horse trial in Cle Elum. It is scheduled for May 23-25 with April 8 as the entry opening date.
http://useventing.com/competitions/omnibus-list?event=15476
Charlie with the long sought after cooler
Spring NWEC 2013 Novice
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Sunday, February 23, 2014
After a long winter nap ...
Charlie got a much longer winter break than I was planning on, and although I've been doing a lot of planning, there are four things on my mind.
First, for today's lesson, Shannon rode Charlie and told me what she was doing (and why). I think I want every lesson in my life to be like this from now on. When someone says "bend his neck to the inside" or "keep it interesting, don't just ride him around the rail", it is easy to think on your own that you are doing a good job bending or shaking things up, but to actually watch someone do it their way is worth 1,000 words. Of course, here, I am the one thinking I was knocking it out of the park with my dedication to my past lessons, when really I had just made the teeny tiniest change. So for the next week, I'm going to try to warm up the way Shannon does and see if it makes a difference by the end of the week. The way Shannon does is a little bit of stretchy to start, then a lot of changes in direction and overbending at the trot, then starting to get him going with some shoulder in and leg yields, then some canter and countercanter to straighten him out. When I got on him, he felt like a million bucks. I want, more than anything, to be able to make that feeling myself.
Second, I think the light bulb in the paragraph above went off because of something I read in Real Simple. It was an article by Ann Leary, called "Consciously Incompetent." The article talks about learning new things as you get older, but critically, had a diagram of the four stages of learning. In Stage 1, you are unconscious and incompetent. This stage, which I have spent most of my riding life in, is fun. You are wildly oblivious of how much you suck, and you are just out there having a great time. Stage 2 is conscious incompetence. At this stage, you figure out you suck but can't fix it. I have been in this stage for way too long and I'm getting sick of this stage. I miss Stage 1 and Stage 3 isn't getting here soon enough. I suspect that in riding, you can only see where you've been in the Stages, not where you're going and how long it will take to get there. Stage 3 is conscious competence. You have the tools you need, but you have to think about using each tool. There are a few things I can do now with conscious competence, which I could not do a few years ago, so there is some hope that my skills are increasingly in Stage 3 and leaving behind Stage 2. Stage 4 is unconscious competence. This stage is basically professionals. They are the people who have "feelings" and can ride off of those, instead of the memorized formulas that I use. (I think. This stage is out of my grasp, like imagining how time travel works.)
Third, the other obstacle is being a perfectionist. I don't think that anyone (although that may be because I still have some ties to Stage 1 remaining) rides perfectly every time they get on a horse. And yet, I am furious with myself for all of the time I have wasted, and I also wrestle with whether perfect practice makes perfect, so my horribly imperfect practice actually sets us backwards rather than helping us progress? i.e. Do you only improve if you're naturally talented or if you can ride with a trainer all the time? I think the standard to strive for is actually excellence (not perfection), but saying the words doesn't actually help me let go of the desire to be perfect.
Fourth, all that being said, I thought I should back out of most of this year's show season. I've had a couple weeks where I've been thinking it's a waste of my time and money, and just unnecessary wear and tear on Charlie if I don't have the time to devote to really, really getting ready, and even without the shows, I have a calendar that is almost entirely full for most of the rest of the year. I am feeling guilty because it's the end of February and at the end of December I SWORE that was it for the rest period and I was going to quit working so much and focus on my riding. Embracing, and having some faith, however, that if I stick with it, I will move further into Stage 3, even if I don't rock this season, and that by doing so, next season will be even better, I think I'm going to work as hard as I can, as much as I can, recognizing that some weeks are not going to meet my goals, and try to have fun riding at as many shows as I can reasonably get to. The future is uncertain, and I have wasted a lot of my life not riding enough already.
First, for today's lesson, Shannon rode Charlie and told me what she was doing (and why). I think I want every lesson in my life to be like this from now on. When someone says "bend his neck to the inside" or "keep it interesting, don't just ride him around the rail", it is easy to think on your own that you are doing a good job bending or shaking things up, but to actually watch someone do it their way is worth 1,000 words. Of course, here, I am the one thinking I was knocking it out of the park with my dedication to my past lessons, when really I had just made the teeny tiniest change. So for the next week, I'm going to try to warm up the way Shannon does and see if it makes a difference by the end of the week. The way Shannon does is a little bit of stretchy to start, then a lot of changes in direction and overbending at the trot, then starting to get him going with some shoulder in and leg yields, then some canter and countercanter to straighten him out. When I got on him, he felt like a million bucks. I want, more than anything, to be able to make that feeling myself.
Second, I think the light bulb in the paragraph above went off because of something I read in Real Simple. It was an article by Ann Leary, called "Consciously Incompetent." The article talks about learning new things as you get older, but critically, had a diagram of the four stages of learning. In Stage 1, you are unconscious and incompetent. This stage, which I have spent most of my riding life in, is fun. You are wildly oblivious of how much you suck, and you are just out there having a great time. Stage 2 is conscious incompetence. At this stage, you figure out you suck but can't fix it. I have been in this stage for way too long and I'm getting sick of this stage. I miss Stage 1 and Stage 3 isn't getting here soon enough. I suspect that in riding, you can only see where you've been in the Stages, not where you're going and how long it will take to get there. Stage 3 is conscious competence. You have the tools you need, but you have to think about using each tool. There are a few things I can do now with conscious competence, which I could not do a few years ago, so there is some hope that my skills are increasingly in Stage 3 and leaving behind Stage 2. Stage 4 is unconscious competence. This stage is basically professionals. They are the people who have "feelings" and can ride off of those, instead of the memorized formulas that I use. (I think. This stage is out of my grasp, like imagining how time travel works.)
Third, the other obstacle is being a perfectionist. I don't think that anyone (although that may be because I still have some ties to Stage 1 remaining) rides perfectly every time they get on a horse. And yet, I am furious with myself for all of the time I have wasted, and I also wrestle with whether perfect practice makes perfect, so my horribly imperfect practice actually sets us backwards rather than helping us progress? i.e. Do you only improve if you're naturally talented or if you can ride with a trainer all the time? I think the standard to strive for is actually excellence (not perfection), but saying the words doesn't actually help me let go of the desire to be perfect.
Fourth, all that being said, I thought I should back out of most of this year's show season. I've had a couple weeks where I've been thinking it's a waste of my time and money, and just unnecessary wear and tear on Charlie if I don't have the time to devote to really, really getting ready, and even without the shows, I have a calendar that is almost entirely full for most of the rest of the year. I am feeling guilty because it's the end of February and at the end of December I SWORE that was it for the rest period and I was going to quit working so much and focus on my riding. Embracing, and having some faith, however, that if I stick with it, I will move further into Stage 3, even if I don't rock this season, and that by doing so, next season will be even better, I think I'm going to work as hard as I can, as much as I can, recognizing that some weeks are not going to meet my goals, and try to have fun riding at as many shows as I can reasonably get to. The future is uncertain, and I have wasted a lot of my life not riding enough already.
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