27/01/2025
When I Say Practice
What is THE THING that separates people who are GOOD at something and people who struggle really hard with it? You might think it's talent but you would be dead wrong. It's practice. The NUMBER ONE mistake I see students make, is NOT PRACTICING.
Volume
How MUCH you practice is incredibly important. There's a common idea that it takes 10,000 hours to master something. Let's say you practice 1 hour a week during your lessons. It will take you approximately 200 years to master your riding. Let's bump that up to 3 times a week. Now you're a master in 60. If you practiced 5 hours a day 5 days a week, you could be a master in 6 years. (This is what most Olympians do to train for their sport.)
If you are a once a week practicer and you're feeling dead in the water, THATS WHY. No amount of good coaching can replace practice. That's because learning has to do with repetition. When you learn a skill you are creating nerve pathways that get bigger and thicker when you fire them. The bigger and thicker it is the better you are at it. But if you're only building those once a week, it's going to take a long time!
Frequency
Now what if one day a week you just rode for 5 hours straight? Well that's going to get you a lot further than one hour, but it would be MUCH better to do one hour a day 5 days a week. Your body adapts to things that you do regularly. It's the use it or lose it principle. If you go out to the barn and practice every day, your brain is going to hold on to the information and skills you are using because it's something you use everyday, it gets labeled as important.
It's the same reason why stretching for 10 minutes every day will make you much more flexible than stretching for an hour once a week. Adaptation has to happen slowly and progressively. It cannot happen all at once, no matter how many hours you do it or how hard. Alot of your progress happens mysteriously overnight as your body recovers and grows.
Accuracy
They say practice makes perfect but they're WRONG. Practice makes permanent. Think about what you are practicing. If every day you show up and shoot with bad form or sloppy loading, you are gonna get really good at loading sloppily. What you should do instead is slow your activity down and/or reduce it to a level you can do well at. That means loading your arrows smooth and slow and focusing on good form or practicing riding with the stirrups dropped at the walk with a good seat.
Progressive Perfection is your best friend. Progressive perfection means you start by perfecting the basics and don't move on until they are very good. It's the classic house metaphor. The house is only as good as its foundation. (And the horse as good as their hooves!) If you are having problem with higher level things, return to your foundation and you will always find a crack.
Strategy
Knowing how you learn, and the psychology of learning is very important for you to progress. Here are some tips for good practice.
Always start with practicing and perfecting your basics
Give yourself a good warm up where you focus on relaxing and breathing.
Split your practice into 20 minute segments. Your brain works in 20 minute shifts. Take a small break between each segment.
Once you get something right, repeat it at least 3 times correctly before you move on.
NEVER practice quick and sloppy. It wastes your time AND sets your progress BACK.
Make sure your practice is FUN! If you have fun practicing you will do it more and more often.
Keep a positive growth mindset. Remember EVERYONE starts out as a beginner. Always say “I can't do that YET.”
Incorporate games and cross training into your practice. Games can teach you much more than just hammering on the same technique. Could your seat use some work? Take a practice session and go for a fun gallop outside! Struggling with accuracy? Go for a stump shooting adventure! Remember it is supposed to be fun!
Mental Game
90% of sports is your mentality. The attitude you approach your daily life and your practice with has more of an effect on your performance than anything else. Keep a flexible, relaxed attitude, with a steel hard determination to continue to try. There is a saying “Steel on the outside, cotton on the inside.” Embody this in your journey through practice and learning. Remember, everything hard is an opportunity to learn!
If you want to do something, the path is clear! Get a good coach who can teach you and encourage you. Practice regularly and work on hitting those 10,000 hours. Be thoughtful and precise in how you practice. Stay lighthearted and keep trying. And most of all, work hard, keep a positive attitude and have fun!
