Opportunity and Horses

There comes a time in your riding career that you need to decide what you want from the endless hours, money, and energy you are putting into your art and sport. Why do you ride? Why do you cope with the heartache that follows horses? Why do you break your body down? Why do you add this stress to your life? In the midst of all this negative, there is a positive that shines brighter. If there was not, you would not be reading this article. If the negative overtakes the positive, then you would no longer be riding and striving.

If the answer to your questions is, “because I could not live without it,” then you are in the right place. You are here seeking strategies to better yourself and looking for ways to hone your craft. You realize that there is more for you. You know that you can achieve even greater success, if only you had the guidance to show you how.

Here comes some tough love. Tough love is a concept that only people who strive understand. They seek out this type of advice because they already know the answer. Sometimes it takes hearing it for you to grasp it and push forward. This tough love is going to home in on MISSED OPPORTUNITIES.

Opportunities are all around us every day of our life. The opportunity to become better at what we do, to become braver, stronger, more resilient, more compassionate, more subtle, more understanding, gain more knowledge, gain more insight, etc. The opportunity to move forward in growth is always presented to us. Unfortunately, us humans miss many of these opportunities because we have not trained ourselves to consistently look for them. We have a false idea that we are stuck where we are currently.

Mindset plays a large role in recognizing opportunities and making undesirable circumstances work for you. Some switches that you can make to recognize the opportunity in any situation.

1. Horse is nervous for seemingly no reason, which is making you uneasy = a chance to work on exercises and tools you can use in the future to redirect the energy quickly.

2. You are tired, but you have to pick up all of the jumps out of the arena still = you train your body to push past perceived limits which in return widens your comfort zone making you capable of so much more.

3. You have to ride a horse who is hard to sit = you learn how to adjust to different movement and feel the parts of your body that are weaker and need to be worked outside of the saddle. You learn which muscles actually support your body.

4. Your back hurts, yet you still have to ride = You can find what the root cause of your pain is by concentrating on what makes it worse. You can develop exercises before, during, and after the ride that help with the pain. You never know when you are going to wake up at a competition with pain. Might as well figure out how to help it at home first. If you cannot figure out the source of your pain, then you will be forced to seek professional help, which will only give you more tools, knowledge, and help.

5. You do not have access to a good instructor = you have to think outside of the box which could lead you to meeting some amazing people or introduce you to an amazing resource online.

6. You feel like other’s have it so easy = this might push you to read an autobiography of someone you admire and realize how tough the journey actually is. This will push you to have more resiliency.

7. Low on funds = learn to prioritize what you use, learn to work with what you have, (if a professional rider) learn to manage business in a more productive way.

The challenge is to be aware of when you begin to complain and find yourself in a circumstance that is undesirable and be present enough to switch your mindset into one of opportunity. I highly encourage you to write down when these circumstances come up and how you switched your mindset to accommodate. If you are not the journaling type, just be very mindful of these circumstances.

Seeking opportunity is your next step. After you are on your way to embracing the opportunities that naturally present themselves to you, you can then begin to make your own.

Activities that you can seek out: (the possibilities are endless):

· Volunteer hours for local, regional, national, or international shows

· Riding or auditing at educational events

· Seeking certifications

· Reading, reading, reading

· Online courses

· Podcasts

· Online video subscriptions

· Training DVD’s

· Reading the rule book of your sanctioning organization for your sport

· Reading again, but autobiographies are an important part of understanding your sport

· Requested Interviews

· Online Forums (Please do not be a troll though, go and learn, give advice only if asked)

· Blogs

· Vlogs

· Business classes (in person or online if you are running your own equine business…large or small)

· Research products you already use… read the scientific research to insure you are using products that actually benefit you or your horse.

· Learn a recovery technique

· Learn to meditate and visualize

· Try a fitness app (we wrote able several in the magazine)

· Attend events to watch (allot of learning to ride comes from your eyes). Or watch videos.

· Network in person and on social media. You never know what you can learn from someone.

· Did I mention read?

· Research how your own body works

· Research how the horse’s body works

· Research grants for your sport

· Journal (Need ideas? Check out the magazine)

· Nutrition research. Learn to fuel your body.

When you commit to the idea that you cannot live without horse sport, then it is imperative that you begin the journey of accepting opportunities and creating opportunities. Just a small effort towards channeling your mindset towards growth will make huge changes in your progression and happiness. A growth mindset is one that gears towards positivity and development. Just as your horse, you are a work in progress. Enjoy the journey, make your own path, and grow to full potential. This is what opportunity offers you.