Re: Fw: RC: endurance prospect, etc.

["Whitney Bass" <bass@bigsky.net>]

No, I'm not afraid.  But thanks for thinking of me!  There are A LOT of
endurance riders who ride just like I do -- are they all "scared" of
winning?  I doubt it.
----------
> From: Maggie Mieske <mmieske@netonecom.net>
> To: Tivers@aol.com; bass@bigsky.net; ridecamp@endurance.net
> Subject: Re: Fw: RC:  endurance prospect, etc.
> Date: Monday, February 07, 2000 7:26 AM
> 
> I do have a couple of comments to make to Whitney and Tom...if you have
not
> been following the thread (I have been accused of not including snippets
> but there isn't just ONE thing I want to reply to)....Whitney doesn't
want
> to push her horse to win and Tom is saying To Win is to Win....
> ok...I still love the motto "to finish is to win"....but I sure don't
mind
> winning in addition to finishing if my horse and I are capable of doing
it
> and doing it well (in that my horse is sound and happy doing it).
> My story is this...after that accident I mentioned on my horse earlier in
> the thread on helmets....I lost A LOT of confidence...didn't really
realize
> it.  My husband/pit crew would often ask me what was wrong?  Why was I
> going so slow?  I could do better...made me mad as hell cuz I felt he was
> being too competitive and after all, "I" was the rider, not him!!!  Took
me
> a long time to realize this about myself.  I had always been fearless
when
> I was younger and now that I was older and in light of my spill, I was
> simply afraid.  The fighting I was doing with my horse at the beginning
of
> a ride was MY fault, not my horse's fault.  I was holding him back.  When
I
> gradually started to let him "do his own thing", he amazed me!  He may
not
> be a national competitor but he certainly is nothing for me to be ashamed
> of either!!  I have worked on letting him do his own thing even on
> conditioning rides (not quite the same thing but I had to consciously
> practice getting over that fear of going too fast) and I feel we have
both
> progressed wonderfully.  I can now "ask" him for a bit more and I usually
> get it.  Sometimes he "asks" me for more and I let him.  I can't wait to
> see what we do this year...I don't expect to blow away the competition
but
> I do expect we will present a good showing with perhaps some top ten
> placings (with more than TEN riders!) and I expect my confidence to grow.

> I am not saying that you are necessarily afraid, Whitney, so please don't
> think I am trying to judge you.  But it's food for thought.  Are you
riding
> to your horse's ability or to your ability (or perhaps level of comfort
> might be better stated?)?  That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!  :)
> 
> 
> Maggie Mieske
> Mieske's Silver Lining
> 10601 S. Richards Rd.
> McBain, Michigan 49657
> http://www.netonecom.net/~mmieske
> mmieske@netonecom.net