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ince buying my new horse I have learned that up until now I have used excuses as a way out. These excuses became a permission slip of sorts to allow myself to not work quite as hard, to not aspire so high.
After all, I ride a "non-traditional" dressage horse, a draft cross, I couldn't do lessons more than a couple of times a week, couldn't afford a "REAL" dressage horse, was too overweight, it was too hot, too cold, too wet, too late, too early, too tired from work….. Any of this sound familiar?
But since the summer Flagstaff Show last year I realized that if I thought things through and made goals and plans to achieve those goals, I could in fact reach them.
What is my ultimate goal? Right now it is to do Prix St. Georg before I am 60. That gives me exactly 10 years and 4.5 months to get there. This is a pretty lofty goal, I admit.
The first step was realizing that my excuses were blocking my progress. I realized there were three alternatives to my situation:
1. Make my priorities such that I could reach the goal (this meant giving up some of my favorite things both time and financial wise).
2. Abandon the goal and be satisfied with what I could do now, or
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3. Aspire to be the best I could be with the horse I had then. I decided that standing still (alternative 2) was out, and I really did want to go to PSG.
Next I sat down and wrote out my goals, 10 years out (PSG), 5 years out, etc. Then I started writing what steps I needed to make to get to my ultimate goal. This, I think, was the hardest thing to do. It meant looking at myself and my situation realistically, and talking to my coach and anyone I could talk to about my goals and what I thought I needed to reach them. I realized that I not only had to buy a new horse and learn to ride him, but I had to lose a lot of weight to be able to be subtle enough to ride at that level.
It was hard for me to buy a horse that had the potential to do PSG, and had some training on him. These horses are not cheap, and seemed out of reach. I had a long talk with my financial advisor, and my husband and we found a way to find a little of the cost of buying the new horse. We decided that part of the cost could come from selling Stone, and part would come from some stock that Robert had gotten through work over the past 20+ years. This gave me a limited budget to work with. Then we had to find the horse. Luckily at Thanksgiving, things started to fall into place and by Easter I had a new imported Bavarian Warmblood in my barn.
I was a little nervous with him at
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first, since my budget had not stretched to going over and trying him out. But I knew I trusted Scarlett Fahrenson, and she trusted the breeder of the horse, so after two vet checks (one in Germany, one long distance here) we bought him. What a treat I got the first time I rode him. I was thrilled then even though I felt like a beginner on him, and continue to be pleased with our progress together. I still have a long way to go to learn to ride him the way he deserves.
I have now learned that excuses will get me nowhere, and so I work on. I have found a way to begin to lose the weight I need to ride at the level I aspire to, to find the time to drive to Sonoita, Arizona, where he will live until after Flagstaff, to continue to quilt, to have a home life, and to keep my job so that I could afford to ride.
You can fit everything you think is important into your life if you set your priorities. Dreams and goals are important to our being human, excuses are the doorway to the bleachers to watch others achieve their goals.
So, I challenge all of you to let go of whatever excuses you have and realize that the only thing limiting your progress and your enjoyment of the journey of dressage is your own mind, and your willingness to work for your goals and priorities. Good luck on your journey!
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