Staying positive

FYI, there is a gory ear picture below. Consider yourselves warned!

This weekend was a total blast, I really did enjoy every second I was there eventing with my ponies and some of my close friends.

We did not match this well!

It wasn't something that just happened though. Lets be real, I want to do well. I don't put in the hours training and spend loads of money on lessons to be at the bottom of the pack. I'd love to be in the placings, or at least the top 10 (we have BIG classes!) when we go out and compete.

We were in the top 10 this day!

This weekend I was determined to have fun, no matter what. Coming out of dressage I was disappointed, I knew the score would be not so great and that we could have done a lot better. Previously I would have chucked a bit of a wobbly about it too. I would have loved to have had a pity party on Saturday. Instead I smiled at my husband, shrugged and focused on the good bits. I knew what mistakes I had made and I knew where we will improve for next time.

3 rails in SJ sucks too. Of course it does. I have a horse who jumps really well, and if I let him do his job by doing my job, we can jump clear. Instead I wasn't quite in the moment and we had rails. It sucked but again I focused on the positives. I wasn't nervous where previously I would have been. We both felt confident and it was really easy to go in there and do the thing.

Cross country was the highlight, the thing I was most looking forward to. The excited feeling was something I haven't felt in a long while, last year the excited feeling was replaced with a sick feeling and a very negative feeling.

I think a lot of why I felt like that revolved around Dakota and where we ended up with her, plus putting a lot of pressure on myself to upgrade. It made everything very much not fun and stressful. Even when I went out and had fun I would come back and pick everything apart and forget that it was fun because of all the things that didn't go to plan or the things that I did wrong.

This year though I decided to be different, to change things. I'm still working hard but I am also having fun. I'm not getting too caught up on the little things. I'm focusing on our strengths and putting more emphasis on what we enjoy.

I enjoy riding this little nugget!

I really think that Henry running me over was a bit of a catalyst. Getting hurt is something I really dread (we all do!) but when it happened I came out the other side and was fine. Physically and mentally I needed to heal but I survived. I spent time healing and thought REALLY hard about what I wanted, if I was enjoying things and if I really wanted to continue with horses. The answer was yes, but that I needed to make some changes.

Changes include not getting run over, and always wearing a helmet!

So I dropped down a grade, went for trail rides and tried new things. I took the pressure of me and the horses. I decided that it's ok that I don't jump big jumps. It's ok if Henry doesn't go and compete this year. It's ok if all we do is trail ride. By taking a step back I've been able to see the fun in things again.

Now I want to compete, I want to get Henry out and I want to push myself a little bit. Not because of needing success but because I have realise it's fun. I have realised that I trust both of my horses.

So here's to a year of fun, a year of galloping around cross country with a big stupid grin on my face. A year of scaling back and just enjoying life again!

All smiles all the time!

Has anyone else had to rediscover the fun in riding? Or had to overcome their nerves of fears to find the fun again?