Silly Dumb Things

“I restarted as a beginner at 27 (did a few years of lessons as a young adolescent) and every week, surrounded by kids/teens who were more experienced than I was, I would make at least one embarrassing mistake. My favorite one was putting my saddle pad on upside down. No one noticed until I was getting ready to mount and the working student was like NOPE and ever-so-kindly helped my instructor quickly scramble the saddle off the horse’s back to flip it, in front of everyone. Yeah, seems like no big deal, but it felt like I was standing there with my pants around my ankles.

As an anxious person, I really lucked out with my barn. Everyone there is so friendly and helpful. I ALMOST never feel judged (there ARE young teen girls who have been riding since they can walk, after all) and have made great personal strides in giving myself grace and challenging myself to embrace learning opportunities.

What I always remind myself is that everyone is at a different point in their equestrian journey and no two journeys look alike. I also remind myself that this is a hobby that I pay to do for fun once a week. I’m not planning to show or buy a horse or be some sort of hot shot equestrian. I just want to be in the saddle and learn something new every week, even silly dumb things I feel like I should already know!”