03/11/2025
A good reminder!
Well, I rode in a clinic last weekend. It was maddening and a great learning opportunity, in none of the ways that I wanted.
For the first two lessons of the weekend, I felt like I was riding the Loch Ness monster, constantly trying to chase down her wayward shoulders, and feeling more and more frustrated, since this is not how she's been at all. The clinician (who I have worked with plenty of times before, and is a very patient, by-the-book, 'Klimke-esk' trainer) did his best to try to make something stick, to mostly no avail. For Sunday's ride, we tried yet a different approach, but after that again did not work, in a mixture of confusion and frustration, I finally stopped.
"I'm confused. Can you show me with the reins exactly what you want me to do?"
So he did just that, in the way many German trainers do, by taking the reins and letting me feel. Finally we got to the issue. A small change in the type and amount of flexion, and we were in business. At the end of my third lesson, we got to where I wanted to start our first lesson.
Was it a little maddening that it took so long for us to all get on the same page? Yes.
But a few things really stuck out to me:
1. For me, confusion sometimes feels a lot like frustration. Probably for my horse, too.
2. If something doesn't seem to be working, even if you think you know what you're doing, stop and ask. There is no harm in asking someone (who is there to teach) to explain it to you like you're 5.
3. The best riding is about communication. Between horse and rider as well as rider and instructor. And being a good rider means ensuring both are solid.
It might sound crazy, but in nearly 30 years of riding in clinics, I don't think I have ever stopped a lesson to ask for a breakdown. I think I exist somewhere between feeling a deep desire to impress my instructor and feeling like asking is questioning their knowledge. Silly and needless either way. I know how hard it is to teach someone who is afraid to ask when they don't understand.
I believe horses are mirrors and they tend to do self-improvement by the slap-in-the-face method. Consider me slapped.
