 |
Re: [RC] FEI - issues - rides2far@xxxxxxxx2. equitation training - the level of equitation and horsemanship is not upto snuff, especially compared with the other disciplines; This is something that I have given quite a bit of thought after the APEX clinic this weekend. There was a comment John Crandell made: "You're only as strong as your weakest link, so you need to focus on the thing that is your weakest link. Well, after watching all the sessions, my personal opinion is the difference between most of us and the great "fast" people is not our ability to train for speed at all. It is our shoeing and equitation. The really successful *fast* guys are all *very* good, *proper* riders, and they have made sure they have great shoeing. BECAUSE they are such good balanced riders, with balanced shoeing, they can train hard without laming their horses. Meanwhile, we lame our horses with our shoeing and our riding before they get fast. It isn't our feeding, or our aerobic training that is beating us, it's the fact that our horses can only go so fast while dealing with the handicaps we are giving them. The farrier would say things like, "You can get away with imbalance like that in a fifty, but that will get you around 70 miles when the inflamation sets in. Meanwhile we're all thinking that since we can do 50 on that shoe job the shoe job is fine, and that the horse has problems at 70 miles because he isn't fit enough. My weakest links are shoeing and equitation. If I can keep a horse sound, I *can* train harder. I need to face that and address it. John said, If you have to put what you love (endurance) on the back burner and go work on the part you like the least (equitation) that's what you've got to do to get more successful. THAT I believe was the moral of this clinic but I'm not sure how many got it. I have had a few lessons and watched a few and I see people waste a whole lot of expensive time justifying why they do what they do rather than taking the advice and trying to fix what they're doing wrong. After I heard others do it, I realized that is exactly what I have done when someone has tried to coach me. No more! I see some who simply are *sure* they have already arrived and couldn't get any better...which is of course the worst sign of ignorance. I don't know how an instructor who is Grand Prix level themselves and still wants to take lessons every chance they get can keep from just *shaking* someone who is doing a hundred things wrong and thinks they're perfect. At least I know I need help so I'm a little farther ahead that that person. :-P I think people are far more interested in buying a new heart monitor and concentrating on that part of raising the bar and it's not their weakest link, though it certainly is more fun. If we really want to get better, those stupid exercises they suggested on a lunge line & a gentle lesson horse are what we ought to be doing, and one time at a clinic won't get it. We've got to break down and pay for lessons around home. >ouch< I don't want anyone whose lesson I watched to think I am condemning them. I admire them for shelling out the bucks and doing what I need to start doing. They are already on the road I'm just trying to get to. I saw them ride their horses as they left for the trail and they ride as well as any of us in a straight line. It's *hard* to take our horses and try to keep them moving forward in a ring, with no *reason* to go forward,and people watching you. My goal is to be like them and have the nerve to listen to what my faults are and start trying to correct them. Angie =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
|