One thing I have learnt over my time recording interviews and chatting with a variety of equestrians for this video/blog series is we are all at the mercy of our own mindset and our own perception is usually different to the reality.
Take my daughter for instance, last weekend my (very naughty) fell pony decided that he was so excited at going in the big fields (where he had been daily all easter holidays!) that the only way to deal with it was to bounce and semi rear down one side of the field.
Being on the ground my reaction was to tell her to ride through it as he was just excited and would soon calm.
Her reaction being on his back was that she would ride him but felt he was doing huge rears and was very bouncy.
Luckily we had his excitable moment on video.
Both our perceptions were different to the video.
Videoing lessons is something I used to do a lot so I could reflect but not something I do often now.
I tried it in my riding this week. I turned my video on and headed out.
In my mind he was on edge but I couldn’t understand why. Once I watched the video back I could see why.
It was the same point on every circle he tensed up, why?
It was excitement as that’s where my daughter usually lets him canter. Its funny how they come to expect a set routine even in their ridden work.
If I didn’t have the video, I would probably have blown it up in my own mind.
We do that with so much stuff, create our own version of reality, thinking our ride was awful, hitting that pole was caused by a huge error, the buck was massive, we rode terribly.
We create our own narrative. Video combats that as it shows us the reality.
So….now I am busy looking at Pivo’s. Does anyone have one? What do you think? Do you have an alternative?
As I find that my video on my phone only captures half my ride and even then I need to zoom in.
We can be our best and worst critics but we can also be our best teachers if we just allow ourselves to change the story we tell ourselves about the rider we are.
So I challenge you this weekend, get your camera out, film your riding and see how much potential you and your horse really have and how far you have both come.
Happy Bank Holiday x