12/29/2024
✨ The elusive "perfect" record. In sales, I CONSTANTLY read ISO ads with the line "no stop". Que a mild eye twitch. This is such a hard thing for me to comprehend or really for anyone to provide. I can think of three times immediately off the top of my head that I was glad a horse stopped. "But Shannon !! When would that be a good thing??" Let me provide some visuals. A) your horse didn't really understand the question and instead of sort of genuinely stopping, they stop sort of midair with one leg still on the ground. Not ideal. B ) a normally super reliable jumper hesitated off the ground. Trainer tells you to get after it. Now maybe there was no reason for the hesitation but it was the first sign your horse wasn't feeling their best. You ignore it, put on some bigger spurs. And suddenly minor tweak becomes a devastating injury. C) your horse knows it's "supposed to jump the jumps". But one day you get schooling with a new fancy clinician, and you don't speak up that you're a little nervous about a certain line. Instead of kicking, you pull at just the wrong time, sending some real mixed signals. You sort of pull out of the line, but not quite enough and your horse STILL tries to jump out for you. You're holding on the side lost your balance.... ext ext.
These are off the top of my head at 6 am. I know NO one wants to pay allllllll this money to have a silly disappointment at a dumb table in the middle of the course for no apparent reason . I do. And certainly there are freaks of nature that never have those moments through their career but I'm sure their riders can tell you a hairy moment or two, and how many years they've spent looking for their replacement. The term hordes of a lifetime come to mind. But alas! Shannon this lovely 75k 5 yr old has this perfect record with *insert big name rider*. I'm here to dispel some illusions.
As professionals, we know *generally* how to set horses up for success. If you don't think I take my young horses to the schooling shows at Stableview to get through all the waters, ditches etc before they go to a recognized there? If I have one that can be funny about water, you best believe I've schooled waters during a horse trial tactfully avoiding flags. Pr schooling a water jump on Friday before the show? If you don't think most professionals have good enough timing for that tactful extra leg 2 strides before a tricky combination and enough good easy quarters in the bank that Fluffy trusts them that time. Sometimes it's genuinely more "valuable" for me to not show recognized to even RISK a silly mistake.
I get so many people that become super frustrated with themselves, their horses and their progress because "they're ruining their horse's record". No, you're learning at pace. You can't learn the secrets that the greats have until you go out and TRY. You're going to make mistakes. That's ok! I never stress when i see an occasional 20 or 40 or sven an elimination! The difference for your average rider in how often you can school vs how often pros and producers can school is literally 4-5 xs. Anything you do is a game of numbers. I know more now, after a season of having "mistakes" on some of my up and coming g upper level horses than I would have if everything had gone smoothly. I wouldn't have lost hours of sleep thinking about how best to teach Rose to be confident into water. I wouldn't have spent hours schooling 103 different venues to make sure she'd seen diffeeent ones. I wouldn't have ridden with coaches that make me a little nervous so I could push myself out of my comfort zone.
All of this to say, let's remember to go shopping for the safe horses that want to get you across the finish line. And let's give some more grace to the learning curve.
