Malcolm Gladwell put forth a theory in 2008, in his book, Outliers: The Story of Success that sounds to be entirely relevant to us horse riders. In it, he proposes that it takes 10,000 hours of practice in any task to become exceptionally good at something.  That breaks down to approximately 3 hours per day over a course of ten years. He goes on to explain that it’s not just about having talent – less talented people can progress beyond their more talented counterparts…

Learning a new skill in riding can be pretty daunting. Not only do you need to coordinate your entire body (including the ever-pervasive ‘core’ of your body), but you also need to stay in balance while moving, in time, in partnership with the (much larger) horse that happens to be using his own feet while yours are dangling in mid-air! You get my drift….

So at best, it’s not easy. When other people tell you that riding is all about the horse and not about the…

Then don’t go to the show. Seriously.

DON’T go if:

- you aren’t getting excellent rides at home, mentally and physically, both you and your horse.

- you haven’t taken your horse off-property in many months (go somewhere lower-key first).

- you haven’t done your “homework”: both you and your horse are fit, and riding AT LEAST one level (regardless of discipline of riding) higher than what you will be doing at the show.

- you are struggling…

Originally posted at: http://frwdnrnd.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/the-99-lucky-rule/

The 99% Lucky rule is very simple – when you’re around horses, and particularly in dangerous situations, you are lucky 99% of the time. That is a good rule – unless it happens to be the 1% of the time that you might be ‘un’-lucky! Then, it’s no fun at all. Let me explain…

When you are around horses, safety must come…