Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Practice, practice, practice

I don't know why but I always wait until the very end of the day to ride. Never in the mornings (unless I have a show). That was toady's scenario anyway.



Blue was pretty good today, I'm still amazed at how well she went on the weekend. Now, it's just harnessing that feeling, teaching myself how to use it, and the aids to keep her (and me!) in that state of harmony.



One thing that helped me greatly-and was what I believe made my test a success, was visualization.



The night before my show, I settled in comfortably on the couch, and visualized me riding my test over and over. I imagined other rider's (Andrea's Helgstrand, Anky etc) riding my test and then I gradually replaced them with me, and I imagined Blue being soft, round and performing each and every move with ease. Visualization is not a easy thing to do. It's hard to imagine riding the perfect test when you haven't actually done it, but I just kept forcing my mind to think about every moment I've had Blue in that bubble of perfection, and to put that in my test. The funny thing was, I hadn't physically practised my test that week. I had only imagined it. And I managed to score my best score in my Dressage career so far.



So my point is, visualization works! As long as you believe you can and you will.



I have made a goal for myself, and that is to practise in my mind daily. Now that the weather has turned to crap and I can't ride as much, this seems to be a great way to perfect my riding.



Now it's just practice, practice, practice!

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