I haven’t posted much about my own training or progress lately. To be frank, there hasn’t been much progress to post about!
Life got in the way a lot in 2021 & 2022. A busy work schedule, several serious family emergencies, injuries, illness, parenting teenagers, plus the ever-present Covid factor…something had to give. And most of the time, that something was riding. It feels like whenever I was just starting to get back in the swing of things, something else would knock me back down. And that’s ok. We can’t do it all. All we can do is keep trying, keep moving forward. Riding in a clinic with Tom Dvorak yesterday reminded me of that. I knew it wouldn’t be perfect, wouldn’t even be pretty, but I did it anyway. When Tom asked what I wanted to work on, I said the most basic of basics: improving my position to improve my struggles with straightness, connection, and thoroughness. And do you know what fixes most of those issues? Going forward. A lot more forward. For two years I thought I had Ronan in front of my leg and nicely forward. I was wrong. Turns out he has a whole different set of gears I hadn't even accessed yet! That one lesson, in which I felt completely inept and amateurish, resulted in a major breakthrough. Now that I know how truly forward feels on Rony McPony, I'm kicking myself for wasting the last two years, and I know he's thinking, "Finally, she's starting to get it!" In life and in horses, going forward fixes (almost) everything. That’s my deep thought of the day 😊
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Canada’s Olympic dressage riders and national team members are household names among followers of the sport. But there’s a new crop of up-and-coming riders poised to enter the limelight that fans should be watching. Among them is 31-year-old Ariana Chia of Winnipeg.
To learn more about Ariana's inspiring journey, check out my article in Horse Sport magazine. |
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About the authorI'm a middle-aged, overweight, rusty re-rider who refuses to let any of that get in the way of my passion for dressage. |