We Are Only as Good as Our Training

We all have experienced that moment right before something bad happens when our bodies seem to take on minds of their own and our minds can only repeat, "Here it comes!  Look out!  Look out!  Here it comes!"  I've experienced that feeling a few times in my life, but most recently yesterday during my lesson.  This is the story of how I almost fell off; of how it was training and not instinct that kept me in the saddle.

I started working with a new horse in my lesson yesterday.  He's big, he's beautiful, he's in really good shape; very brave and so honest and responsive that he's a "tattletale" when you make a wrong move.  He's a phenomenal horse.  As I rode, I noticed his big rangy stride at the walk, and his very springy and ground-covering trot.

The thing I noticed most, however, was my lack of stability in the saddle.  My balance was pretty off from the beginning.  My arms and hands weren't very quiet on the reins and my legs were swinging.  I was having a hard time keeping myself sitting upright and my leg in the right position at the same time; my hip angle was pretty closed, even at the walk/trot.  When we picked up the canter, it started out well, but I lost my balance and tipped over his right shoulder.

It's hard to put your center of gravity back where it belongs when you're riding a moving horse.  I remember feeling very stuck.  I remember feeling that a fall was completely inevitable.  The only thing my mind could tell me was, "You're going to fall!  Here it comes!  Look out!"  I winced, I struggled, and then I heard my trainer's voice as she repeated to me, "Sit back.  Sit up and sit back."

Wouldn't you know it?  I tried to do as she said, and I succeeded.  Crisis averted.  When my instinct panicked, my trainer knew what to do, and I fixed my situation if I listened and tried.  That's not to say that all scary situations in riding can be resolved by staying calm and "sitting back;" some situations happen in ways that can't be fixed while others happen so fast there's no time to think between the saddle and the ground.  That said, it certainly doesn't hurt to stay calm if you can.

This is why we have trainers: they are there to correct us, teach us, and to create the voices in our head that tell us what to do when situations go past our control.  Any lifeguard, EMT, doctor or firefighter can tell you that the reason they can keep calm and help someone in life-or-death situations is entirely due to their training.  It's the process of learning what to do so that you know what to do when you would otherwise freak out.  We've all had moments when we've lost control; in order to regain control, first we have to learn how.

Photo credit:  www.pasofinoniagara.com