Inspiration
Published by Cari Zancanelli under dressage, horse back riding, horse inspiration, horse training on 10:31 PM
As I get older I find that sometimes the drive to ride and train...falls off a bit. Especially if I havent' been able to ride or work with them for awhile I feel guilty, which then has the weird effect of taking away my impetus to ride. It should have the opposite effect, shouldn't it?
In the past month, though, inspiration hit me in spades. Here is the strange part: I have been trying to tell my husband, Doug, for weeks that I have lost my drive and feel like I haven't accomplished anything in my riding, and since we live in a godforsaken rural area there are no dressage instructors, etc., etc. Finally I got him to listen and I voiced all my angst. The horses are sorely in need of training and regular riding. I am out of work, so time is no longer a problem, I only have the weather to get in the way yet I had trouble getting out there and really going at it.
Then, after I voiced my feelings, three things happened that changed everything. First I started giving riding lessons to an 11 year old girl that visits my neighbor's house. They bought a horse for her, a very sweet old ex-jumper named Charlie. Charlie has wandered over to our house for visits on occasion so I got to know him well. In any case, this little girl is horse crazy and brimming with all that lovely courage that comes with riding. She fell off when he stopped suddenly and hopped right back on, no fear at all. She rode him every morning and then I would come over and give her a lesson. She reminded me that I am so lucky to have my own horses and that it is a privilege to ride every day. She brought out the 11-year old horse crazy girl in me. After she left I went out and rode every day.
Then I read about a woman in the May issue of Oprah magazine. There was a piece on women who were old for their activities and one of them was this fabulous 60 year old barrel racer from Hawaii. In the photo she is standing on the back of her horse with her long grey hair in braids and she's smiling big. She got into riding at 45 or there about and said that she just "rode, rode, rode" her horse all the time. She competes for fun, for something to do.
After reading that I scolded myself for being too caught up in my age and my (lack of ) accomplishments. It's more important to DO IT than anything else. With riding the process is what counts, as it is with training. Doing it every day is the most important thing, and the improvements will happen.
The third inspiration was even more wonderful and unusual. I will save the full story for later, but I found out there is an FEI level rider only an hour away named Anita Williams. I am going to meet her on Monday! She's going to allow me to be a working student.
This week, before the rain started, I rode and rode and rode. And Angel lost weight...for the first time in 3 years! And she also learned her canter leads, at 11 years old!
In the past month, though, inspiration hit me in spades. Here is the strange part: I have been trying to tell my husband, Doug, for weeks that I have lost my drive and feel like I haven't accomplished anything in my riding, and since we live in a godforsaken rural area there are no dressage instructors, etc., etc. Finally I got him to listen and I voiced all my angst. The horses are sorely in need of training and regular riding. I am out of work, so time is no longer a problem, I only have the weather to get in the way yet I had trouble getting out there and really going at it.
Then, after I voiced my feelings, three things happened that changed everything. First I started giving riding lessons to an 11 year old girl that visits my neighbor's house. They bought a horse for her, a very sweet old ex-jumper named Charlie. Charlie has wandered over to our house for visits on occasion so I got to know him well. In any case, this little girl is horse crazy and brimming with all that lovely courage that comes with riding. She fell off when he stopped suddenly and hopped right back on, no fear at all. She rode him every morning and then I would come over and give her a lesson. She reminded me that I am so lucky to have my own horses and that it is a privilege to ride every day. She brought out the 11-year old horse crazy girl in me. After she left I went out and rode every day.
Then I read about a woman in the May issue of Oprah magazine. There was a piece on women who were old for their activities and one of them was this fabulous 60 year old barrel racer from Hawaii. In the photo she is standing on the back of her horse with her long grey hair in braids and she's smiling big. She got into riding at 45 or there about and said that she just "rode, rode, rode" her horse all the time. She competes for fun, for something to do.
After reading that I scolded myself for being too caught up in my age and my (lack of ) accomplishments. It's more important to DO IT than anything else. With riding the process is what counts, as it is with training. Doing it every day is the most important thing, and the improvements will happen.
The third inspiration was even more wonderful and unusual. I will save the full story for later, but I found out there is an FEI level rider only an hour away named Anita Williams. I am going to meet her on Monday! She's going to allow me to be a working student.
This week, before the rain started, I rode and rode and rode. And Angel lost weight...for the first time in 3 years! And she also learned her canter leads, at 11 years old!
 |
| Angel this week - note the crest on her neck is now a slight bump. We are working on muscles for the hind end... |
 |
| Taken about a year ago - here you can see how cresty she was! She also wants you to know that she is "large boned"and being covered in white fur is NOT slimming in the least! |
0 comments:
Post a Comment