For me the worst word in the English language is 'perfection'. My dictionary defines it as 'faultless' which is why I loathe this word with a passion. A few years ago I inherited two Persian carpets which I love, but I was disappointed to see mistakes in the pattern because, I expected them to be perfect. Later I found out that the flaws were put there deliberately, as in Islam only God is perfect. It's such a sense of relief that my horses do not have to be perfect and I do not have to be the perfect trainer, rider or blogger either!
There are two people who I teach, one on a Monday, hence Mrs. Monday and one on a Friday, Miss Friday. These two riders could not be more different. Mrs. Monday has a 17hh, incredibly well bred horse whose pedigree has world champions littered in it's papers. Miss Friday, is the complete opposite. Her horse is homebred and this came about when someone couldn't pay a hay bill and offered the service of his stallion to her old mare in lieu. The result, a small, 15hh on a good day, compact horse.
For Mrs. Monday the world has to be perfection. She has to be the perfect rider and her horse trained to peak perfection, and until that time comes, she stays at home perfecting herself and her horse. They never go out and do anything because the time is not quite right. She almost made it to a local competition once but cancelled at the last minute because the horse rubbed it's tail overnight and therefore it was not perfect. The word 'failure' lays very heavy with Mrs. Monday and the thought that they might not win would be something she could not tolerate; it would be a total humiliation for her. As a result she has never ventured beyond Prelim level.
Miss Friday on the other hand is not afraid of failure. She does not care that her horse is a good two hands shorter than the average horse in the warm up arena, as she says he has no idea how big he is. When the results come back and the judge says, "needs to cover more ground", it makes her laugh as he's covered as much as he could for his height. Consequently, by plugging away, learning from her mistakes and never being afraid to take chances, she has upped her game and now competes in a top hat and tailcoat, something that Mrs. Monday constantly dreams of.
Success is like a game of snakes and ladders; some days you climb up the ladder, other days you slide down the snake. If you want to succeed, never give up but see what others regard as failure as a great learning opportunity.
So, you can sit at home waiting, with your blinkers on or you can go out there and make a start. The perfect day never arrives. The perfect competition does not exist. The perfect time to start something new is now; not tomorrow, or the day after, or when it's the first day of the month. It really is NOW. It's your choice; you can be like Mrs. Monday and wait and wait and never venture out, suffering the slow death of boredom as you both circle round and round, or you can try, try and try again like Miss Friday who believes that you only fail when you either never start or give up completely.
If you've always wanted to hack your horse, today is the day. Does it matter that you don't get further than 100 yards from the gate? No, because there is always tomorrow to try for 150 yards. If you've been thinking about booking a lesson, today is the day. Don't delay, trainers are there to train not to be impressed by your current riding standard. If you need advice then go and find it. Let's go for progress and forget about perfection.
Now for the cheesy ending, 'success comes in cans, failure in cannots.'
Guest blog by Prue 'Dazzle' Boyd.
Source: http://blog.trotontv.com/2011/09/dazzle-em-with-confidence-perfection-is.html
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