Confidence

I've had a couple of "bummer" rides over the last couple of weeks. Rides that I think about for hours after they're over. Days, actually. Until the next one. Trying to figure out what I should have done differently to make them better. I think that these are the best rides. Blessings in disguise. For it's these rides that I learn the most about my riding & my horse.

When you have a bad ride, the worst thing that you can do is blame. Blame your horse, blame your trainer, blame your equipment. Ultimately, when you have a bad ride, it's your fault. You're the one in the saddle, you're the one holding the reins. How are you going to improve if you shove the blame on everyone/everything else? You're not.

So I thought about some of the things I've done up in the saddle recently and thought about the orders my trainer barked at me. And then this weekend a lot of it clicked and I had a phenomenal ride. In the words of my trainer, "You get an A+ for today." It all came together at a pretty great time. Our first horse show is just around the corner and I will be going into it with a lot of confidence.

Confidence is essential in the show ring. Confidence is not something that comes easily to me. For me, I've always thought if you're confident, then you're cocky. But I think that I'm learning what the difference is. When you're confident you believe that you have what it takes to get the task at hand done. Being confident is not a bad thing. Anyway. That's what's on my mind tonight. Above is a picture from our ride this weekend. Horse and rider focused, happy, and ready to get the job done.