“Living at risk is jumping off the cliff and building your wings on the way down.” , said Ray Bradbury. Little did he know how right he was especially with Hamster and me. I jumped off a cliff choosing to go through with the idea of riding Hamster and I am building the wings. These past few days it has seemed that instead of me building the wings alone we are working on each wing together. If you want to get better, Hamster and I have a solution, it’s called ride and worry about falling off later. I love the gallop; that way my worries can’t keep up. What I have found is you need to get out of your comfort zone to get better at whatever you do.
Take for example the last lesson we had. My trainer said it was the best lesson we ever had. Hamster was listening for a change and I was nervous to change my riding style at first but it was worth it in the end. I used to ride Punky very defensively because there was always the imminent threat of being bucked off or him stopping. If I ride Hamster that way, HE gets defensive and angry. I have changed my riding position to jumps from a two point to a sit back and balance and then fold over the jumps. I’m also riding Hammie with contact as opposed to how I used to ride Punky which was with significantly reduced contact. It really couldn’t be called contact. When I ride with more contact, I have to be more conscious of folding or I will catch Hamster in the mouth. Hammie is jumping a lot better and bigger as a result of my folding, releasing, my better contact and balance; the whole package.
Jumps that used to be daunting or ones that we weren’t sure we were ready for now seem easier because Hamster is much more willing. I have gone out of my comfort zone because I wanted to push myself. Now what seemed challenging seems easier than ever before and the result being a horse that will jump more willingly and that makes me feel great.
If you want to improve, try something new or more challenging instead of doing the same thing that you are comfortable with. Try something you’re not exactly sure of. A common saying is, “Shoot for the starts, even if you miss, you’ll land on the moon”. If you can’t bring yourself to do it, keep trying until you can because you will never know your limits until you push them.
(Please excuse the blurry photos taken with my phone. I did try to get better ones but failed at timing!)