Not an easy horse

How many times have you read the words, ‘he is just not easy to ride’? Actually forget that.

How many times have I written let alone thought those words?

Probably a lot more than I care to admit. 
It’s something I actually try really hard not say. It doesn’t quite sit right with me. Why?
There are two main reasons.

Firstly, what horse is easy to ride? Honestly? 
Every horse has their strengths and weaknesses, but I really don’t know if there is such a thing as an easy horse to ride. I do think that as riders we are better able to manage or compensate for some of our horses weaknesses, and when we can’t it may seem as though our horse is harder to ride. In my opinion this is less of a reflection on our horse and more of a refelction on us as riders, on our weaknesses. The things we need to work harder on. There is no such thing as an easy horse – if it was easy everyone would be doing it!

The second reason I try to avoid saying that my horse is hard to ride is that I think all too often we say this as a disclaimer. As a form of an apology. ‘I know we are only riding X level but he’s not an easy horse to ride’, ‘I know we are still struggling with the flying changes two years after we introduced them but she isn’t an easy horse to ride’.

I truly believe as a community we need to stop apologising for not living up to our insanely high expectations. 
Have goals, Yes! Absolutely! Know your weaknesses as a rider and work your butt off to improve them. Know where your horse struggles and learn how you as a rider can help your horse. 
But don’t apologise for it.

But lets pretend for just one moment that we could suddenly have a horse that was extremly easy to ride. A horse where we merely thought of what we wanted and our horse reacted. Would this acutally teach us anything? Would we ever become better riders? Unlikley.

So next time the D-word starts to form on your lips, take a moment

This post was originally posted on my Instagram account @the_sand_arena_ballerina

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