mtnmollie
11-30-2008, 06:36 PM
by mugs
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
What I Can't Do.
We talk about fear. We talk about safety. Lately, as a lot of you know, it has weighed heavily in my posts.
Some questions come to me and leave me stumped. Not necessarily because I don't know the answer, (I'll admit that one) but because the way I would approach it may not be safe for someone else.
When I answer questions from you guys they often come with a lot of baggage. Mainly, I don't know you. I don't know your horse. I don't know how safe or unsafe the places you ride and train are.
When we describe ourselves there can be a lot of leeway going both ways. It can go from somebody angrily saying, "I have owned horses for 30 years, don't question my experience!", to another saying "I'm an intermediate rider who's trying to improve."
Unless I see someone ride there is no way for me to tell if that 30 years experience means somebody who has kept two half-starved horses in the neighbors field since they were kids and only get on them during hunting season, or if the tentative "intermediate" rider is actually someone who grew up riding on their family ranch and is now working on third level dressage with a horse they are training themselves.
How we perceive ourselves is often completely different than reality. My favorite phrase is, "The older I get, the better I was!" and yes, I'm talking about myself.
from mugs blog-
http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-i-cant-do.html
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
What I Can't Do.
We talk about fear. We talk about safety. Lately, as a lot of you know, it has weighed heavily in my posts.
Some questions come to me and leave me stumped. Not necessarily because I don't know the answer, (I'll admit that one) but because the way I would approach it may not be safe for someone else.
When I answer questions from you guys they often come with a lot of baggage. Mainly, I don't know you. I don't know your horse. I don't know how safe or unsafe the places you ride and train are.
When we describe ourselves there can be a lot of leeway going both ways. It can go from somebody angrily saying, "I have owned horses for 30 years, don't question my experience!", to another saying "I'm an intermediate rider who's trying to improve."
Unless I see someone ride there is no way for me to tell if that 30 years experience means somebody who has kept two half-starved horses in the neighbors field since they were kids and only get on them during hunting season, or if the tentative "intermediate" rider is actually someone who grew up riding on their family ranch and is now working on third level dressage with a horse they are training themselves.
How we perceive ourselves is often completely different than reality. My favorite phrase is, "The older I get, the better I was!" and yes, I'm talking about myself.
from mugs blog-
http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/2008/11/what-i-cant-do.html