A Clear Round

A Clear Round

Last week I took a student to our biggest, most competitive horse show to date.  My student was competing at an international level at a show that had 2500 horses in attendance and 60 in his class alone! To put that into perspective most of the shows we attend locally have 60 people TOTAL! As someone who is fairly young in the business it could have been an intimidating experience. I was coaching my student while standing next to a former Gold Medalist coaching his students that were in the same class as my rider! Now I have not yet achieved Olympic stature and my student’s horse was not an imported European Warmblood.  But we found out that it doesn’t really matter.  After my student would do his round, I’d watch the other riders in his class compete.  Oh of course there would be the beautiful, really fancy high end horses and riders, but I’d have to smile when a fat backyard looking pony and a determined little girl would grit their teeth and do just as well as the big boys! It doesn’t matter where you’ve come from, with determination, hard work, and daily practice you can jump just as high as anyone else!

This all made me think about the excuses people use in life that keep them static.  People will use excuses in order to explain away why they haven’t gotten as far as someone in life.   I am not convinced  things like that matter.  The world is loaded with examples of people who “came from nothing,” had a terrible family situation, or even a physical disability and achieved great things. This is because these people had a vision they were passionate about and they had the tenacity to stick with it, even when there were bumps in the road.  If there is something in life you really want to accomplish or achieve, you first need to let all your excuses of why you CAN’T do it go.

These “I can’t” thoughts will manifest themselves so that, guess what, you won’t be able to do it.  Start by listing the reasons you can do this, the reasons you want to do this, the things that make you passionate about this.  This will get your brain thinking positively about the situation.  Then you can start to take steps towards this goal.  It will be a long process, a journey to be enjoyed!  You will find in the end that you CAN jump just as high as anyone else!

Claire Affleck
Claire Affleck Training website