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In the year 2000, I attended the 4-H competitive trail ride in Rothrock State Forest on my horse Meatly. I had not conditioned enough. I rode in a big old western saddle that did not especially fit my horse. I approached the ride without the foggiest notion of pacing. I didn't pay much attention to hydration. As you might reasonably expect, our ride was a trainwreck. I finished late (time penalties), with a horse too tired to trot. I had sored both sides of my horse with the cinch. She looked *dog* tired, so tired that she was not particularly interested in food, which for her was exceedingly unusual.

I earned the last-place ribbon (sixth) in my class with a score of 88.5 and the only reason I got it was that there were only six entries. I was embarassed. I was ashamed. I felt horrible for how I had treated my horse, horrible for how poorly I'd trained, horrible for having been that bad at competitive trail in front of my circle of horse people. I hated that damn green ribbon with a passion. And I swore, then and there, that I would never again attempt the Keystone Ride unless I was loaded for bear. I would condition. I would see to feet and shoeing. I would manage my tack issues and saddle fit. I would find a way to hydrate the horse that wouldn't drink strange water. I would bloody well practice trot-outs and vet-in ground manners. And I would compete to win because I do like winning. A lot.

I did not attend the Keystone Ride again until 2007. In 2007, I won my class with a 94.5 (scores were horrible due to the heat and humidity) and high point adult. In 2008, there was no ride. In 2009, I rode Callie sweep (noncompetitive). In 2010, I won my class with a 97.75 but lost high point to Trysta who had a 99. And in 2011, I won my class and high point with a 99.25.

Failure is a motivational tool. Setting up the world so that children do not fail is depriving them of one of the most effective motivational tools out there.

At the ride this year, one of my first-year kids had given up. She had said she was done at midpoint because her legs and butt hurt and her jeans were rubbing her and we were going too fast and so forth. She'd been crying since mile 10 or so, figure five miles of crying and tears, and I told her that she could pull for rider option at midpoint. Other adults (a parent, a friend) felt otherwise. They vetrapped her legs and put her back on the horse so that she could "finish" the ride as a sweep rider and let her pretend she'd achieved something.

Interestingly, the parent adult said "My child wants to complete the ride." Funny, she didn't say that to me the whole five miles in to midpoint while we were spilling time all over the place to let her adjust her chafing jeans or fix her stirrups or walk to rest a little. She said to me, the whole damn five miles in to midpoint, that she was done and hurt and didn't want to ride anymore. And suddenly, at midpoint, after you've had ten minutes with her, she "wants to complete the ride". Yeah. That came from the kid. The friend adult, who also kept telling the child "You can do it. Ride sweep. They go nice and slow, that way you can finish the trail..." felt that the child's failure was due to adult inability to prepare the child. I conditioned with the child and so the child's failure was MY inability to prepare the child. My lily-white ass it was.

I spent several days on Practice Using The Clothes You Will Wear To Compete and Make Sure Your Clothes Do Not Chafe and Don't Change Stuff The Night Before The Ride, Especially Clothing. I felt that this topic was sufficiently covered to be clear to nine year olds. I also went over this topic with the PARENT of the child, specifically because it is so vital.

I also made a VERY concerted effort to explain to all my children how much trotting would be required at the competitive ride. I've been talking about trotting since August. I have spent two months trying to ramp up the child's trotting speed to something approaching acceptable and I have pointed out "appropriate speed" on my Garmin when it was achieved. I've been over and over and over how much trotting is required at the competitive ride. I don't know how many times I can repeat YOU WILL BE TROTTING NEARLY THE ENTIRE RIDE but apparently (according to the friend adult) I did not repeat it enough times because the kid "didn't know what to expect". Funny, my other two children got the idea and had started to finish my sentences for me by the end of August.

I talked at length about how physically exhausting the ride was, how tiring it was, how much effort it took from a RIDER.

I talked about Waylon's self-pull at mile 20 last year due to chafing issues with his saddle and clothes. "Don't be like Waylon," I said. "Make sure your clothes work for you. Ride in them. Practice in them."

It is not my place to tell the child No, you may not attend the competitive ride. You don't have enough skill at riding for this to be easy for you and you don't want it badly enough to tough it out and ride through the pain. Condition this year to build a base of skills and we'll see how it looks next year. That is the job of the 4-H leader, who is not me, and who will not say that to a child.

La does not like to set limits on children. She doesn't tell them that their dreams are unrealistic as all hell. She lets them aim for the stars and work for the stars and plummet to the earth in flames like so many little Icari. (Who knows, maybe one of them will learn to fly one of these days.) Setting the bar high makes a kid work harder to achieve the goal. Harder work = more growth. Set the bar too low and it's not even work to get over it... so no growth there.

In truth, the failure child's seat, bravery, general competence with horses, comfort level with non-ring riding, and attitude got a lot better during the conditioning. She got significantly better at riding and horsemanship. The competitive ride competition was not really that important in light of these other achievements. But, damn it, "completing the ride" does not mean changing to sweep halfway through and then bitching to the other sweep riders that they are going too fast or that the ground is too rough for trotting or that their pony is lame (it wasn't) and they therefore should not trot it. It also does not mean allowing as how you are bored and asking the (adult) sweep riders to play a game with you to entertain you.

We are not doing this self-esteem bullshit again. No, no. Next year there will be three slots on the trailer for 4-H children. (Three slots are for grown-ups.) I think we should have tryouts for a slot on the trailer and only take the best three. In my fantasy world, it will work like this...

Everyone who is interested in attending the competitive ride can compete to attend. Formal conditioning practice will be held 3x a week starting in June. The only 4-H'ers who do not have to show up for conditioning practice are the ones who have won the high-point trophy (Waylon and Cass). High point winners are free to condition on their own if desired or can attend formal conditioning practice if they want to do that. I will note who comes to formal conditioning practice and how regularly these people attend. I will also take note of attitude, self-reliance, lack of whining, grooming and care of animal, putting-things-away, not-losing-feed-cans, etc. Half of a 4-Her's ride-readiness score will come from one's participation in formal conditioning practice or the high-point option.

Then, the first free weekend in August, we will hold a ride up on the mountain at Lynn's house, probably from Gillian's to Lynn's and back again. The ride will be held at competitive ride pace (as determined by me and my Garmin) and it will not be a "trail ride". The only 4-H'ers to attend will be the competitive ride prospects. At this ride, horses will be assessed for fitness, soring, ability to handle the work, etc. The fitness of the respective horses (determined on a scale of 1 to 5 by three observers and averaged) will determine the other half of a contestant's ride-readiness score.

The riders with the highest ride-readiness scores will get the three trailer slots for the competitive ride. Riders who still wish to attend the ride and have not qualified for a trailer slot will have to make their own travel and picketing arrangements.

This way, 4-H'ers can fail at home, without spending 45 bucks entering, without racking up 30 bucks in diesel, without taking half a day off school to go play horse, etc. Everyone will still get the benefit of practice time in the saddle but we won't have whiners and ill-prepared children and unfit horses slowing us down at the real ride.

Date: 2011-09-27 12:56 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] not-your-real.livejournal.com
Congratulations on the 99.25! I hope your plans for world conditioning-practice domination come through next year.

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