Mediocre people will see you and feel themselves wilting in your shadow. Do not shrink to counsel them.

Mediocre people will see you and feel themselves wilting in your shadow. Do not shrink to counsel them.

Today we had class and it was warm enough to put the heaters on and ride, which was nice. I rode ET, who is always a good citizen. Class was pretty laid back. We did some trot and each cantered once. I was really mad at myself today, which made it challenging to put everything aside and work towards riding my best. I’m glad I had ET, because you can’t just go around the ring not trying, or he will pound on his forehand, and I couldn’t let my bad mood hurt him. I was frustrated because I wanted to ride Nate, and was really looking forward to it, but it was only myself who screwed it up. I know that Zach does not want anyone on him, and I didn’t want to ride him because I didn’t want to upset Zach. But as I tacked ET up, it was not Zach who was unhappy, but me. I do love ET and I feel so fortunate to get to learn from him, but it’s also fun to ride other horses as well. When I am limiting myself for fear of making others unhappy, that is not okay. Other’s inferiorities may limit them, but I will not let them limit me again. Also, it irritates me further when the TA is telling me how to ride. When I watch someone ride who is going to be teaching me, I want to be thinking, “wow, I would love to ride like her,” but it’s actually the opposite. If my horse ever gets to the point that the only way I can get him to stop is by putting a harsh bit in his mouth and running him into a wall, I would seriously be looking at my riding and how I have trained him. Never do I want my horse to question when we go around a corner if he is going to get his face slammed into the wall, or keep going. I have a problem with someone who trains there horse in that way teaching me. I don’t know about you, but I want to do the exact opposite of that.

My ride on ET was mediocre. I find it hard to really get into a groove during class, I prefer club time. That way you really get to ride the horse. Problems I noticed from my ride: he’s not forward, but he’s not impossible to make forward. I need to stop begging him to move, but rather ask once, and then use the whip. He will listen once he figures out what you want, but won’t just give it to you either. It is really hard though to get him to go off my leg when all I’m allowed to do is walk. I can vary speeds in the walk, but that can only take you so far. I don’t feel like it really sets us up for success when I spend most of my time at the walk. There are so many things you can enhance at the walk, but since I’m not allowed to do anything but literally walk, it’s awful. Also, I don’t think he was really warmed up, and certainly not off my leg when we did walk to canter and canter walks. I would have liked more trotting first. I still feel like I’m off balance. I really do think my stirrups can go up a hole. They are so long and I’m reaching to get any stirrup, which causes my heel to go up and me to grab with my knees.