Another Slice of Humble Pie

I write for a lot of different reasons. I write to teach. I don't just teach elementary school; it's who I am as a person, so writing allows me to share what I know and have learned. I also like to write about particularly useful products or great sales; it's fun to pass that stuff around. I also like turning my disappointments into funny stories. When I tell on myself, someone out there thinks, hey, I am not alone on the struggle bus. And suddenly, we're all on a party bus headed to Vegas. 

Who's with me?

All of that lends itself to entertaining content - I hope anyway, but the real reason I write is to articulate my learning to myself. While owning and showing horses is great fun, I am determined to do more than just have a good time. I want to be better, I want to ride better, and I want to get all the way to the top. Writing my thoughts down helps me organize my learning, and it forces me to self-evaluate where I am as a rider.

Last week, I wrote this line, Instead of feeling like I am stuck at Training Level, I now see the basics as an avenue for helping Izzy instead of holding me back. As soon as I wrote that line, I realized what the truth was. The real truth is that I have spent this past year and a half feeling like Izzy is holding me back, like he is the reason I am not to Fourth Level yet. 

That realization was like a punch to the gut. Oof. If anyone is holding anyone back, it is so obviously me that I can't believe I didn't see it sooner. Izzy has four sound legs and oodles of natural ability. He's not holding anyone back from succeeding. If he had a more knowledgeable rider, he'd have passed Fourth Level long ago. Instead, he's the one stuck at the lower levels with me as his rider.

"I wish she would figure this out."

You would think that realizing I am the weakest link in our chain would be depressing and demoralizing, but it actually has the opposite effect. I can't change Izzy, but I can certainly change myself. I can get better, and in fact, I am doing so every single day. Each week when I ride with Sean Cunningham, owner and trainer at STC Dressage, I see evidence of my progress. And I am not the only one. Sean sees it too. If I want to get to Fourth Level, I have to work harder. That's all there is to it. It's not Izzy's fault that we're not there, and now that I get that, the path forward seems wide open.

Regular servings of humble pie do a body good!