To become a great rider (hell… to become great at ANYTHING…)
You have to fall in love with the process.
Because that is what it is about. It is ABOUT the process.
In other words, you have to be willing to do the work. You have to want it bad enough to endure the struggle… to get back on the horse when you’ve come off unexpectedly… to come back the next day after a bad ride and do it all again (hopefully better)…
You have to be willing to subject yourself to the bad rides as well as the good rides. Because they are not all good rides. As much as we wish it could be, anything you want to pursue in life is not all unicorns and rainbows.
It is hard rides. It is coming face to face of your inadequacies, how you made a bad decision, how you became impatient, how you didn’t know the answer, how you let fear overtake you, how you are imperfect.
Repeatedly.
To face these hard rides and hate them and yet do it again - ANYWAY.
To do this you have to try. And you have to really want it. I mean really REALLY want it.
The daily drudgery of practicing, unglamorous seat lessons, coming back to ride again even when you felt defeated last time, work OFF the horse to improve your strength and suppleness (because riding is athletic, too, you know!), to put in the study time to cultivate your intellect and understanding, hauling water buckets in sub-zero temperatures, mucking stalls when you would rather be at home on the couch watching “The Bachelor”, repairing fences in the pouring rain, paying the big vet bill that means no vacation for you this year…
It’s a mountain of a dream and it is yours (and yours alone) to climb.
You have to not just like the IDEA of your dream, or the IDEA of climbing this mountain, the IDEA of being a great rider…
You have to embrace the struggle to also reap the reward. You cannot get the result without the process. Life does not work out that way.
It is the riders who learn how to ENJOY the process… those are the ones who make it. This is part grit but it goes way beyond that (because you can have grit but still not make it).
You have to really REALLY want it so much that you can see the pleasure in the struggle.
You have to fall in love with the process.
