“Remember the two benefits of failure. First, if you do fail, you learn what doesn't work; and second, the failure gives you the opportunity to try a new approach.”
- Roger Von Oech
That pretty much sums up my time at Virginia Horse Trials this weekend in a better way than me telling you that I fell off. But there, I said it, I fell off.
Although I'm sitting here and beating myself up over it time and time again, I knew it was bound to happen and I'm happy to say that neither Rori nor myself were hurt. In fact, it was a stupid mistake and greenness on my part. We were going into a log with a one stride to a bank down and I made the classic error of leaning at a jump, or in this case a bank. While walking the course with Sinead she warned me that Rori may look at it since neither her nor I had done one of these questions before. She instructed me to sit back and ride it carefully and expect she might chip and look but to sit up and keep my leg on her. Although these wise words were spoken to me just hours before I set out on course, I failed to use them while riding the combination and popped off the side.
Jumps 1-7 rode so nicely and while coming into 8 I tried to remember to slow down. While I slowed to the first part of the obstacle, I gunned Rori at the bank instead of waiting. While I was expecting the one stride, Rori made the RIGHT move and looked before she jumped and since I leaned, I fell, and before I knew it I was looking up at my horse galloping off towards the stables. *Sigh......*
Sometimes you have to fail in order to learn the lesson, but I just wish it hadn't been at a show we had drove over 8 hours to get to. However, years down the road from now when I'm winning my first One Star and people ask me how did you ever get through that tough bank combination? I will say, "Because I fell off at Virginia Horse Trials in the Training Rider division while leaning at a bank, and from then on I learned how to sit my ass back".
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