Do you *have* to be brave to event?

10 April 2011 3 Comments

While hacking around the property today, we came across a ditch.

I asked Ro to cross, and she wasn’t so into that. We tried a different location, and I felt like she was considering just jumping the thing.

Suddenly, instead of asking her to go forward, my body was telling her: Hey, go forward, but not, like, too forward. In fact, if you want to stop with your toes on the edge of the ditch, that’s cool. We can stand here and contemplate the alligators hiding in the ditch. We both know they’re there, so, you know, no need to rush here. Maybe staring into the ditch is enough for today. Want to go get a latte?

Then I realized that was silly, we went back to the original crossing point, and rode across like sensible people and ponies.

However, I get the feeling this doesn’t bode well for our future wanna-be-eventing career.

One of us should be brave, right?

Or is this something we can get over with more experience for both of us? I admit I’ve been an arena flower all my riding life, but the new barn boarders a great trail system—we can get out and about very easily and get experience for both of us. Maybe we can get brave together, as long as we don’t actually see alligators. Nah, we won’t run into alligators. Snakes, maybe.

Um… let’s not think about that. Let’s think about all the ditches we can find and cross. We shall build character. Lots and lots of character.

And maybe some bridges.

Horses and Riding, Horses I Have Known, Ro

Comments

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Barbara says 11 April 2011

You do not have to be brave to event. Your ride competitions well within your level. 
You do, however, learn to FAKE brave in order to school xc.  I took my previous horse out schooling one day and we decided to do the revetted ditch.  Now, I am afraid of heights and tend to stand on the edge of things and peer down imagining my demise.
So I trotted him up to the ditch, kept my eyes up and he gave a little hop and crossed it.  No big deal.  The next time my fears overtook me, I peered down into the hole and found myself laying on the neck of a horse who had stopped at the edge of the ditch and was peering down to see what I was looking at.  Scared us both and it took nearly an hour to get him over the ditch again.  Loose nut behind the wheel.

Sarah says 11 April 2011

Oh, good! We can take turns pretending to be brave!

I’m not even sure there are ditches at the wave-at-the-jumps-as-you-pass-by level I aspire to, so we’re probably ok.

And the reality is that once I have Ro trotting cross rails and have us both more comfortable just being out on trails, I’ll go find a trainer to start us on anything more serious. I know what I can and can’t do in this regard.

I think she’ll surprise me—she really just needs experience and confidence, but I think she’ll like playing around at baby eventing stuff, just for a change of pace.

Jane says 12 April 2011

I’m a big chicken when it comes to jumping.  Yes I’ll try leaping from horse to horse without getting off, but put a little X rail in front of me and I know it’s certain death.
I like the idea of going for a Latte with Ro.  smile
Hudson is very brave. Fortunately we balance each other out.

I’m not afraid of the only known thing he’s afraid of: loud noises.
I’m going to teach him to drive.  My fear is the airport parking garage.  He would have no problem driving there, walking through garage, and taking the elevator. He might have a problem with elevator Muzak, but luckily, there is none at the airport that scares me.

The only problem will be convincing the DMV he’s just an odd lucking biped.

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