Screw Ups, Videos, and Habits

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“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle

Jester Ralph Hill panorama

There was a time when I didn’t have a coach. I lived in no-where Texas…………

(the No-Where-Ranch is for sale if anyone wants to own this fabulous arena!)

Lazer Ray Arena afternoon

but when you live in No-Where there is a dearth in upper level eventing instructors. I desperately needed help……..

so I started filming all my rides. As I watched them I didn’t have an educated enough eye to know what the problems were.

Expressive surprised man

So I started watching Rolex videos.

Rolex BM water 1

Go Big or Go Home.

I would watch my video……… and then a Rolex video……………..

WFP BE

Over & over.

Then I started looking for Rolex riders whose body size to horse ratio best matched mine.

At the time I was riding a 14.1 hand pony.

BE Lav sit 1

Being 5’9″ the best comparison I discovered was William Fox Pitt………. on pretty much anything he rode.

Rolex WFP CM 1

I quickly saw some things he did that I didn’t………….. and when I adjusted my position……… things started clicking into place.

BE Lav jump 1

Ever since then, I have continuously obsessed over my videos, watching frame by frame to see if I’m happy with my hands, my seat, my leg……….

Sherlock Holmes

Then during a lesson the other day, something like THIS happened……

x_BE_WP_Miss_part_2 g s

And while having a chat about what went wrong…………………..

BE WP car BE

And boy did it…………

BE%2Bnot%2Bme%2Bface%2BDP.jpg

The fearless leader said,

“Look. Make a choice, jump the jump, don’t go obsess over your videos when sh*t goes wrong, sometimes you just have to go jump the jump again.”

And for once………I did!

champagne-celebration-gif

 

 

 

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