This year I adopted a slogan from Jordan Speith: “Do or do not. There is no try.” Having done this it is now impossible for me to tell my coach Belinda Trussell that I am trying my best. Lately the bar has been considerably raised in my lessons and some of the “committee” in my head are saying things like “” You are too old for this.” ” You will never be quick enough for this.” ” You will never be fit enough for this”. In my last lesson Belinda gave me a wonderful tool that silences that committee.
Every moment I am riding, and I mean literally every single moment, I must ask myself how would I grade myself and Biasini. If he is up and light and swinging and brilliant it is a 10. If he is heavy in the hand or just going along well enough but not as well as he could be it could be a 5. If it is a 5 then I must DO SOMETHING! First make sure my lower leg is on and use it. Then soften with my fingers. Is there a good response? No? then a correction with lightening speed and then quietly check the response again. Good? Yes! Then that will last for a stride or two and I must be checking again: how is it? a 9? Good! Here are two videos of the lesson . It is hard to hear my response to Belinda but you can get the idea.
At the end of the lesson I have grasped the concept of self grading on the scale of 1-10.
The day after my lesson I rode and since it was 30 Celsius or more I knew it had to be a very short and efficient ride. The committee was silent as my head was filled with :” What is it? a 7…could be better let’s fix it.” Or” that’s a 5. Fix it!” ” Or it’s 8. Good!” My ride was not perfect by any means but since I believe that everything you do on the horse is training the horse I think we had a positive training experience.
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