Horse Riding With Confidence #9
It’s February already and the days are definitely getting longer, this evening I did the horses at 5pm without needing to use a head torch. I don’t know about you but once it’s light past 5pm I always start to feel that Spring is coming with it’s sense of optimism and renewal.
I recently recorded a short video about a simple, but effective, way of analysing a ride so I thought that this month I would write about it as well as I think it is worth repeating.
Sometimes, you will just want to ride for fun and that is absolutely fine but if you are in training mode or are wanting to measure progress then it is well worth doing an analysis after you ride. You can do this three step process on your own or with your trainer, instructor or coach.
STEP 1
Have a think about what went well during the ride and allow yourself to feel pleased and proud of those things. What did you achieve? What successes did you have? What felt right? What did you do for the first time? BE PROUD!
STEP 2
What did you find difficult? What challenges did you have? What mistakes did you make? Another way to look at this is, if you could do the ride again what would you do differently?
This is the learning part of the process. It is always OK to make mistakes as you will learn from them. What isn’t helpful is if you repeat the same mistakes over and over again as that means you aren’t learning.
STEP 3
SIMPLE - REPEAT STEP 1!!
This analysis means that you end on a good note remembering all the things which went well on your ride and it avoids you ending the day telling yourself that everything went wrong or was rubbish. It is very rare that everything goes wrong and I am pretty sure that you will be able to be pleased with yourself about those achievements if you follow this process.
Try it and report back and let us know how you are progressing, tell us about your achievements (no matter how small) and let us know how you are learning from mistakes.
Next month I am planning to start a short series on recovering from accidents, shocks, falls etc so look out for that.
