Bravery is Learned. “Practice Your Guts.”

I recently read a quote by George Morris that resonated with me a lot. Now, I’m not a “GM groupie”. I respect his accomplishments as a horseman and I think he’s definitely knowledgable, but I don’t agree with everything he says and I don’t avidly quote him to my fellow equestrians, or ever preface something in an equestrian discussion with, “Well, George Morris says…” (Don’t lie, you probably know someone like that!) However, all that aside, this quote really stuck with me and I find it particularly relatable.

“A bold rider is a good rider. Beezie Madden. Whatever problem confronts her, she doesn’t have temper, she doesn’t have excitement, but she practices boldness. Leslie Burr Howard, at the Lake Placid show before the Atlanta Olympics—it was raining, and she was in the preliminary jumper division. It was a few months before the Olympics and I said ‘Leslie, what are you doing riding that horse? It’s raining, it’s muddy, it’s up and down that Lake Placid hill.’ She said, ‘George, I’m practicing my guts.’ Yes, Leslie was practicing her guts. I admire her practicing her guts because we have to practice guts. I always had to practice guts. I used to go with him (Frank Chapot) in the back of the bleachers in Wiesbaden, Germany, and I said, ‘Frank, I can’t do this. I can’t jump those jumps.’ He said, ‘George, you got good horses, we’re over here. You’ve got to do it.’ I always had to practice guts.”

Beezie Madden and Cortes ‘C’. (flickr.com/Franz Venhaus)

It takes a lot sometimes to swing your leg over the saddle and ride a 1300-lb. flight animal, but for those of us who have decided to make a career out of riding, it’s immensely necessary that we have the guts to get on and ride every time. It’s our livelihood and we can’t just decide, “Hmm, I don’t think I’m going to ride the horses today.” I can’t count the number of times I’ve looked at a particular horse standing by the mounting block and felt my stomach churn in nervous anticipation. Whether I had a recent fall, felt a lot of pressure to ride perfectly that particular ride, or something else, I know that I have to just suck it up and get on. Being a good professional is about being able to separate your emotions (good or bad) from the equation, and to get on whichever horse is waiting and give it the best ride you can. Sometimes things don’t work out quite the way you want, but if you don’t have the guts to get on in the first place, it will never happen.

The best way to practice guts is to—well—get on and ride! Many equestrians tend to be very Type A/perfectionist, and sometimes overly controlling about aspects of their lives. I know I’m definitely this way. I thrive on planning things and organizing and making the barn look pristine. Unfortunately, riding horses is never perfect, and we as riders and simply as human beings can never be perfect either. When you feel secure in controlling as many aspects of your life as possible, this can be hard to come to terms with.

The author. (©Working Equestrian)

When my boss tells me to ride a certain way that seems, well, “out of control” to me, I have to really work hard to practice my guts, swallow my nerves, and just do it. No matter how wild it feels to me, I know that it’s probably not. One of my biggest challenges is overcoming my desire to micromanage the horses that I ride. Sometimes, you just have to go ride and stop overthinking things. I think that this will be something I constantly struggle with, but I hope that as I gain more experience and confidence in my own riding, it will be something I can put more in the back of my mind so that I don’t let that micromanaging get in my way.

You can’t always be in control 100% of the time. Sometimes you need to sit up, stay quiet, and just kick on!