Lessons in Learning

I'm finally blogging about my lesson on Wednesday.  Some of you readers who are on my Facebook page, Sonata Equestrian, have already heard a little bit about how unhappy I was with my performance.  The lesson itself (what my trainer was trying to teach me) was very good, but I was pretty disappointed with all the "Rookie Mistakes" I made, and was very glad to have pulled it together a little bit in the end.  The important thing to remember about any time that we hit a challenge is never to give up and never to attack ourselves if we come up a little shorter than we had hoped.  If we throw stress and pressure on our shoulders at one lesson, and carry it with us to the next, eventually it's going to be too much for us to bear.

Let's talk about some of these "Rookie Mistakes."  The first thing we all need to remember is that there's no shame in being a real rookie; we all start somewhere.  I happen to think there's a lot of bravery in the phrases, "I don't know how to do that yet," "I haven't learned that yet," "Could you tell me that again?  That's new to me," and "I'm not comfortable in trying that until I really understand what you're asking me."  Rookies are the bravest riders out there because they're the ones who are trying something they never did before.  I, however, can't say that I'm a rookie to the material we went over in my lesson.  I knew better (but somehow forgot) when it came down to taking action.

My lesson literally started off on the wrong foot-- namely, mine.  I let the horse step on my foot.  To rookies, this is almost a rite of passage.  When you're starting out, eventually you're going to be distracted by something, and leave your foot where it will get stepped on.  It's not a purely "rookie" move to make, either, as horses are unpredictable animals.  But the way I did it screamed "Rookie!" all the way.  I was putting him in cross-ties, and as I was turning him around, I pivoted on my feet leaving my now-hind foot behind me and in his way.  (To all the true rookies: always take full steps in a semi-circle when you turn a horse around so that your feet are under you and not under him.  If you do get stepped on, do not try to pull it out from under him, but simply encourage him to move it off.  If he has room to back up, nudge his shoulder so he can take a step back.  If he doesn't have that room, give him the space in front of him to move forward.  Don't squeal, get mad at him, hit him, or jump around like a fool-- there's no reason to make a bad situation worse by scaring him.)  So I got stepped on.  Not badly, broken-footed, stepped on... but "Goooooooood Morning, there's a horse on my foot!"  stepped on.

***For some folks, I might have recommended x-rays, etc.  If you have persistent pain, if it looks worrisome, if there's ANY bleeding, or if you've got a nagging feeling that you should have it checked out, go to the doctor.  Don't ever play around with injuries that could cause lasting damage.  My foot has only a little bruising, and there wasn't any pain whatsoever after the first day.  I have full range of motion, and as a ballerina, I've put it through its regular workout with no trouble at all.

The problem with starting off on the wrong foot is that we tend to stay distracted and careless in our actions once we start; which is exactly what happened to me as much as I hate to admit it.  From the start to almost-finish of my lesson, my head wasn't really in the game.  I was thinking about my foot which still throbbed a little at the time, I was thinking about how stupid I felt because I'd let myself get stepped on, I was thinking really hard about stretching my heels down and trying to remember all the things I'd said I'd work on in my last blog--  in short, I wasn't thinking at all about what I was doing in the moment.  This is obviously something we should not do.  There's something to be said for trying harder to improve the shortcomings of the prior lesson, but it does a rider no good to focus on last week's ride when this week's ride is happening in the now.

I was distracted.  When a rider is distracted, they come off-balance, their hands become less quiet, and their ability to read the arena and "steer" drops off before they even notice.  That was me.  As I made turns, I dropped my inside shoulder like I was on a motorcycle.  On the straight, my hands bounced around and I let the reins slip through my fingers, giving up my control.  Over jumps, I was making my move too late.  Luckily, my trainer kept her patience and made reminders that brought me back down to earth (and back to a much safer, more aware ride).

So that was my lesson.  The good news is, I did learn a few things, so I didn't waste it.  The "even better" news is that I'll do much better next time.

I won't actually have a lesson for a few weeks, so I'm making a point to go out and see Thunder in the meantime.  I stopped out there for a visit two days ago and I had a really lovely ride on him.  He's always been a bit spooky indoors, so we've always had to "show him around" on the longe line across the arena or take him around on a lead line to prove to him that nothing was going to pop out of the corner and eat him.  After leading him around, I mounted up, and we did some really great walk/trot work.  After I was satisfied with that, I took off his saddle and pad and we went around bareback for a while, too.  I have to say, I missed that horse much more than I ever thought I did.  Although I believe that he didn't necessarily "miss" me, I think he appreciated seeing my familiar face, and he really appreciated getting back to the hard work he was trained to do.  He was trained years ago by the same woman who gave me my first lessons, and I have to applaud her good work with him, and thank her for helping get me started doing something I'd always wanted to do.  I'd still be "SoNOTa" Equestrian if it wasn't for her.

I'll report more after I get out and ride some more this week, which brings up my final point about Making Mistakes:  Let your mistakes drive you forward, rather than push you backward.  Having a tough time doing something just means you should do it more often, rather than giving up and not doing it at all.