10/08/2025
When we were young riders,
failure didnât matter.
We bounced off ponies,
missed diagonals,
forgot tests,
and laughed it off like dust brushed from boots.
Falling wasnât shame,
it was how we learned to sit taller.
Mistakes werenât verdicts,
they were invitations.
But as we grew,
the arena became quieter,
the judges sterner,
the scores heavier.
Failure became something to fear,
as if a crooked halt could measure the size of our worth.
Yet dressage has always known better.
It knows that collection only exists
because youâve practiced the moment it fell apart.
That harmony is born from a thousand quiet
conversations that didnât go as planned.
Children know it.
Horses know it.
They donât carry shame in the stumble.
They carry on.
Maybe the lesson isnât to ride without mistakes.
Maybe itâs to ride the way we once did,
with joy that failure was never the enemy,
only the proof weâre still moving forward.
Because in dressage,
the only real failure
is never daring to ask the question of yourself
or your horse at all.
