30 Day Blogging Challenge Day 13-My Worst Riding Habits
Well here we are at day number 13 in my 30-day blogging challenge! This is 13 days down, 17 more to go! By the time I am done with this challenge, you will all know so much more about me and my horses as well as my strengths, and my weaknesses. I wanted to offer a little more to you about myself, and thanks to me reading the incredible blog She Moved To Texas, I found her 30-day blogging challenge and decided to emulate what she had done. This post might be a little different than what you think it will be, as far as my worst riding habits. Instead of picking out individual flaws, like not posting to the correct diagonal, or keeping my heels down, I chose to discuss my general, larger picture bad habits.
I love to ride my horses. I think about it, I dream about it, and I plan for it. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen. Right now, I can blame it on the weather, and because it is dark before I get home from work every day. I always seem to have the best intention when it comes to wanting to ride, but making the time for it doesn’t seem to happen as much as I want it too.
When it comes to riding, I want to be the best rider that I can be. But I do have some habits that I am working on changing, the most important one being making the time to ride. Even if it is only for 20 minutes a day, once the time changes. And of course, if the weather is cooperating. I do make sure to spend at least 30 minutes every day with my horses, regardless of weather or excuses.
But the entire riding goal aside, these are my bad habits when it comes to riding.
I Let Frisby Dictate How We Will Work
Frisby is my buddy. And I feel so lucky to have him. Maybe that’s why he kind of dictates how our riding sessions will go. It takes him a long time to get into the flow of our riding time. After 20 to 30 minutes of me pushing him he finally is ready to move forward. And by this time, I am exhausted from how hard I have had to work to get him to this point. And then our riding session is pretty much over. My goal with Frisby is to be more consistent with him, and ride him at least 4 times a week, to help keep our rides at the front of his memory, so we can progress instead of redoing the same thing over and over.
I Do Not Practice Two-Point Enough
I always intend too, but I don’t. So my jumping position is not secure, and neither is my confidence.
I Ride Without a Plan
When I make the time to ride, I am just so happy that I’m doing it that I lose track of what I should be doing. I walk, trot, and canter. We work on transitions, and work both directions of the ring. But after that I don’t have any method to my riding.
I Focus My Time on Groundwork
Many times that I intend to ride, I end up making excuses and all we do is ground work. And I mean a LOT of groundwork. This isn’t a bad thing really. With Ethan, he is still green, and getting used to me like I am getting used to him. So the groundwork is a good idea. But with Frisby, I have had him for over 12 years. And while ground work is valuable, I could make the most of my time by riding him instead of working him from the ground.
I Need To Ride More
I know I said that earlier, but that is how important this is to me. By riding more I will get stronger, and I will get in shape, and it will become a habit. Just by the act of repetition, the action you are repeating will become a habit. And the more you do it, the better you will become. I want to be a better rider, so I need to ride more.
By sitting down and thinking about my bad habits, it will help me to overcome them, and replace them with better habits. This is my first step to making changes within myself to help me become the rider I know that I can be. How about you, what are your bad riding habits that you would like to change?
