No Road is Long with Good Company

There's nothing better than spending time alone with your horse to focus on building a life-long partnership, right? Yeah, sure - but the novelty of being alone does wear off...

This Sunday, like any other Sunday, Lily and I spent time alone together doing what we love (we went to ALW for XC schooling)... This Sunday was different though. For the first time in a long while, we did it in the company of like-minded people. It was BLOOMING fantastic. We talked to each other the whole time, laughed a lot, learnt from each other and (probably) rode much better for it, too. It was great to see steps, water, ditches and skinnies before our event there in March and it was even better to pick up some speed and have a good gallop!

Typically, you could fast forward 4 weeks here and, like every event of the season, I would be so full of nerves and anxiety before the B.E. that I'd become my own worst enemy. Tense. Snappy. Distracted. Combine this with the amount of time and money I have invested, my busy lifestyle and the constant feeling that I am never fully prepared, and you have yourself a dangerous cosmic cocktail... Sometimes I feel so distant from other competitors that I may as well not be there.

I remembered today though, after I unloaded the box and thought to myself how good the day was, that if you surround yourself with like-minded people you'll thrive and bloom.

SO, I've come to the conclusion that we just need to do more in company. We need to practice not being alone together all the time and then learn how to channel that relaxed, fun-loving and stress-free feeling into our event days. That's my challenge for 2018. To make things quantifiable, I figured I'll judge it by asking Gus (NYOH) how many times I bit his head off for not being quick enough to pass me the studs, not filling the haynet properly, or not riding the god-damn dressage test for me because I forgot it (again)! If the number starts decreasing then I'm achieving my goal... Wish me luck!

Much love x