think blue ribbon-y thoughts
Malinda may have inadvertantly created a monster today.
I've been feeling pretty good about my riding abilities lately, since a few weeks into lessons this semester. I've been signed up for every horse show this semester, got a respectable 3rd and 4th place in the two classes we've had so far (and at the second home show come in highest out of all the PSET riders in my level even if I did place behind the two from other schools) and get yelled at less in lessons as well as gain the ability to begin to recognize things like incorrect form or position when I watch other people ride. So it's been good, and I didn't think it was crazy of me to say, I am going to try my damnedest to get first place at Wilson this weekend. It's my dad's birthday on Saturday and I'd love to be able to send him a picture of me with a blue ribbon so he knows the support he's had for my riding has come to something other than a sea of green and yellow over the past 3 years.
So then this morning I took an extra lesson and rode Billy, who has a "weird body type" aka he's got super sway back and is about a thousand miles wide. It's like trying to straddle the hood of my car. My stirrups were an awkward length, he has a bouncy gait and as I was riding I was trying to figure out the best way to adjust WHILE posting, trying to get him to go faster, and trying to correct the basic stuff of my position I keep getting yelled at about, nevermind the fact that I have no idea how to turn my toes and knees in any more without breaking my freaking ankles and tying them to the girth. So Malinda basically says she can't make me the point rider (aka the rider who scores points for the team) because if I draw a "bad horse" at a show, like one with a body type I'm not familiar with like Billy's, I don't have the "killer instincts" to be competitive.
So now I basically am hoping I draw the fattest horse at Wilson and get the first place ribbon and I'm not on the point card just to spite her. Because seriously? I have killer instincts. I can go for it. I'm not scared to ride a wide horse or a narrow horse and I know I can totally win. I'm sick of saying "gee I hope I do okay" and now I'm just gonna start being like "yeah no, i'm gonna fucking win so fuck you". Which is basically what I want to say to Malinda right now. Because I know that if I don't win it's not because I'm scared or intimidated. I know when I go out there I try my fucking damnedest. Especially at a show. But there are some things I just don't get, like about position, or how my feet should be, or things like that, that she doesn't bother to explain and then mocks us about if we ask. She knows her stuff, it's really true, she just has this brusque, harsh attitude that really discourages people from asking questions.
Also I really really hate being told what to do. Or well more accurately that I can't do something. So now that I know what she thinks I can't do, all I have to do is do it.
edit: this is exactly all I needed to know. i've been getting called out about my toes sticking out but never quite had it explained how i should be fixing it. and lo and behold this excerpt is completely right about the ankle and knees thing. so glad that now i've actually had it explained how to do it! google is a great riding coach.
I've been feeling pretty good about my riding abilities lately, since a few weeks into lessons this semester. I've been signed up for every horse show this semester, got a respectable 3rd and 4th place in the two classes we've had so far (and at the second home show come in highest out of all the PSET riders in my level even if I did place behind the two from other schools) and get yelled at less in lessons as well as gain the ability to begin to recognize things like incorrect form or position when I watch other people ride. So it's been good, and I didn't think it was crazy of me to say, I am going to try my damnedest to get first place at Wilson this weekend. It's my dad's birthday on Saturday and I'd love to be able to send him a picture of me with a blue ribbon so he knows the support he's had for my riding has come to something other than a sea of green and yellow over the past 3 years.
So then this morning I took an extra lesson and rode Billy, who has a "weird body type" aka he's got super sway back and is about a thousand miles wide. It's like trying to straddle the hood of my car. My stirrups were an awkward length, he has a bouncy gait and as I was riding I was trying to figure out the best way to adjust WHILE posting, trying to get him to go faster, and trying to correct the basic stuff of my position I keep getting yelled at about, nevermind the fact that I have no idea how to turn my toes and knees in any more without breaking my freaking ankles and tying them to the girth. So Malinda basically says she can't make me the point rider (aka the rider who scores points for the team) because if I draw a "bad horse" at a show, like one with a body type I'm not familiar with like Billy's, I don't have the "killer instincts" to be competitive.
So now I basically am hoping I draw the fattest horse at Wilson and get the first place ribbon and I'm not on the point card just to spite her. Because seriously? I have killer instincts. I can go for it. I'm not scared to ride a wide horse or a narrow horse and I know I can totally win. I'm sick of saying "gee I hope I do okay" and now I'm just gonna start being like "yeah no, i'm gonna fucking win so fuck you". Which is basically what I want to say to Malinda right now. Because I know that if I don't win it's not because I'm scared or intimidated. I know when I go out there I try my fucking damnedest. Especially at a show. But there are some things I just don't get, like about position, or how my feet should be, or things like that, that she doesn't bother to explain and then mocks us about if we ask. She knows her stuff, it's really true, she just has this brusque, harsh attitude that really discourages people from asking questions.
Also I really really hate being told what to do. Or well more accurately that I can't do something. So now that I know what she thinks I can't do, all I have to do is do it.
edit: this is exactly all I needed to know. i've been getting called out about my toes sticking out but never quite had it explained how i should be fixing it. and lo and behold this excerpt is completely right about the ankle and knees thing. so glad that now i've actually had it explained how to do it! google is a great riding coach.