Ep 36: Ride The Horse You Have Today

From performancewriters.com this is the Pabry Podcast. I'm Nat Foxen, and each episode I challenge World equestrian Games top 10 dressage writer Brett Parbury to explain and discuss what I call a pabraism. That's a pearl of wisdom I've written down over the years of working together in our performance writers programs. Brett doesn't know what today's pabraism is. Let's get into it. We've got a fresh pab for this episode, and that is train the horse you have today. Train the horse you have today. So straight off the bat, what do you mean when you say train the horse you have today?

Well, firstly, I wished I'd listened to my own advice when I was younger. Right. Because that's, that's a comment that you really can only make when you've got some experience behind you and a bit of let's. So let's call it mistake making in, in the, in the history. But really what it's about, it's, it's, you know, we can have all the plans in the world, we can have all the structure, all the plans, but really, at the end of the day, we have to listen to our horses more. I guess when we're starting training, and I guess simply because the horse might be a little bit tense or a little bit distracted or spooking at one corner doesn't mean you throw everything out or you completely change your plan, but it's just noticing exactly what the horse is giving you on the day. So if the horse could be tense, the horse could be really having a day where they want to test all of your aids and lean all over you and, and not respond to you and give really sluggish responses. And we might have a plan of running through all of the movements. You know, we've got a competition coming up perhaps or something. We want to have a test riding day to notice today's not the day. What would my horse benefit from today the most? It could be just some fundamental basic transitions, some good responses, maybe a, maybe a fundamentals day. So it's noticing what the horse is, you know, really offering and then, and then working from there. And that doesn't mean, I mean, that doesn't mean every day, like some days you do have to push through and, and ride some stuff, but like some useful things for the competition. But yeah, sometimes it can really frustrate you when you, you're wanting to do one thing, the horse is completely just giving you every reason why not to. And we don't Change. And like I say, I can speak from experience that that's. You don't end up really feeling like you've been productive at all.

It's difficult, isn't it? I mean, one of the other podcast episodes we've done was about having a head full of structure and a body full of feel, and it is a tricky thing to balance those things, isn't it? Like, we need to be intentional about our training. We need to have a plan, and we need to keep progressing. We only have a limited time with. With our horses.

Yeah.

And yet we do also need to meet them where they are, and that is a difficult balance.

Yeah, definitely. I. I was just thinking what you're saying there. I mean, I find myself in lessons doing the same thing. So, you know, you say to someone, how's the horse feel today? You know, what do you want to do? And then we might start doing something and it's just not going very well. And it's like, you know what? We need to change our plan today. Let's just do this, this, and this. And we're going to set up so you can ride tomorrow what you're looking to do today.

Right, Right.

And, you know, that's probably the best advice is you guess you'll only know that you're both not, you know, let's call it aligned into the. You know what you want to do until you start doing it. And then once you start doing it, you realize this is not it. So then having that good plan B, that really constructive set of fundamentals to fall back on and. Yeah. And have a productive day, that's such.

A great idea, I think, to have a plan B. And I think that would really help the writers who freak out a little bit about making plans in the first place, because they hate to. To make a plan and then it. To sort of fail, so to speak, or to feel like they have to change their plan, I know that throws people mentally. So if you have a plan A and then a plan B, and I think also like writers who are in the Gold program and know your system, it's easy to have a plan B because your plan B can always be a fundamentals day that we teach in the system.

So, I mean, that's usually. That's a stock standard. Plan B is to have a really good down fundamentals, because fundamentals, a fundamentals day is not really an easy, easy day. It's oftentimes a harder day because you're really wanting good responses to the fundamental aids of, you know, can my horse Be rounder. Can I, you know, can do I feel like my horse is yielding over the back? Am I getting the, the. Can I put the shoulders where I want? Can I make a half halt? Can I feel the horse take weight behind and carry weight? You know, there's so many fundamentals that, that we've got to go through before we can start layering them more and more together to get the more complicated movements.

It's one thing to think about training the horse we have underneath us on a particular moment at home, but what about when it comes to competition? We're really emotionally invested, financially invested. We have a plan, but sometimes we end up with a horse that's a little bit different. Feels like a totally different horse on competition day. What's your experience with that? Do you sometimes have to change your plans on the fly?

Probably more so, to be honest. So when I hear that question, I think of the person that probably falls into that mistake. The biggest would be the sort of aspiring young writer or young professional who is probably is carrying a little bit of extra pressure with regard to the results. Whether it's, you know, status pressure or whether it's, you know, owners wanting horses to do well. I find in those situations the more experienced sort of mature person who probably doesn't, you know, who understands the sport more or doesn't have quite the pressures would make better decisions in, in that moment. But fundamentally, when you're at a show and we always tend to get people to really think about the purpose of a show within the weeks leading up to the show, you know, not, not every show has to be a winner. Some days it's best to go to the show and try and achieve a few things that you may have been working towards within a test or within a warm up or within a, you know, fact that you're there for a few days and really you're trying to save and work towards having your best results at the shows that really matter. You know, it could be a championship show, it could be a local club champs or a major cdi. That's where you want to put your best results forward. And just like there's different importance of shows, there's also difference in a way of approaching a show so you don't, you know, you don't have to win every show. And, and oftentimes when you do, you end up getting let down at the biggest shows. But if, if I was getting to a show now and, and felt my horse had completely changed, like something had caught me by surprise, it could have been My horse has got some anxiety around separation from the friends back in the stables. Or I've gotten very spooky at something. I would very quickly be able to flick into training mode and still ride my lines and my test, this is within the test, but, you know, be able to flick into training mode and go, you know what today's, you know, the job I want to achieve here is to be able to get my horse to calm down and concentrate on me or get past this scary thing or, or walk in the test. You know, when they jig, jog. And never really forget that even when you're competing, you are training to some extent. And this is oftentimes, actually I just gave a lesson where the girl I was coaching was saying how her horse, when he goes down the center line at the competitions, tends to want to drop behind her and drop back. And, and, and that's a classic example of when we go in the ring, we tend to, the horse still thinks we're training, but we disappear and we let a few things happen. And I'm getting on a tangent. I know, but, but that, that's how the horses learn. So if you, if you maintain this mindset in the competition that I'm still training, yes, I'm showing off and I'm here to show off the movements and I'm showing everything, but I'm actually still training. I mean, I'm still in this pressure release conversation. You'll find it easier to be able to flick into a training mindset, if that makes sense, and try and achieve something. And oftentimes I find that the happiness coming away from the show, the sense of achievement, that sense of this was really worth it, even if it was a disaster, that will follow. A mindset that is more flexible with regard to going to the show and a mindset of I'm here to train for something in the future. And that tends to result in. You just feel like you're more productive and you feel like you've achieved more, even if the result doesn't quite support you on that. I mean, everyone loves a great result, but yeah, that's a, that's right. And that's not reality. Every time, like you think of any competition, any major sports person around the world, they're not winning everything. I think Roger Federer, one of those really famous tennis players, had this thing, you know, like I said, some small number of all the points that he played.

Yeah.

And, you know, one of the greatest of all time. So, yeah, you know, understanding that you can't win all the Time understanding that you're training for bigger and better things. I always tend to say there's shows that you really want to put high up on the importance list and you're working towards those. The other shows that sit in between are more training competitions and opportunities to train. And going back to your original question. If you do get to one of the, you know, one of those shows where that you are training that gives you an opportunity to read your horse more on the day like and, and, and have this really good mindset about, oh, I didn't see that coming. I didn't think Moss would do that. Think, you know, that distraction would affect him or, you know, never, you know, so you can keep training.

It's a more of a, it's more of an attitude of curiosity.

I mean that's a great way of putting it. Curiosity. And, and that's probably the same when you're training at home too. Even though it's probably less, you're probably less in a curious mind when you're at home. I think when you do have a day where you wish to go through something and you're completely changing it and the horse is sort of giving you something, still maintain that bit of a curiosity to say, I wonder what, wonder what this is about. Why, why? You know, yesterday was a great day. I had a great training of fundamentals. The horse respond. Miles responded really well. Why now when I go to ride this stuff where I've got this really tense or non reactive horse that, you know, because at the end of the day you can't make everyday fundamentals day and you can't make every day round and loose and you know, supplying day like you have to pick them up and train them through the movement. So let that kind of train you. And I suppose I'm talking myself around in circles, but yeah, riding the horse on the day is a real, a real maturity and it's also a real horse person's thing to do.

I think I'm interested to hear a bit more about your, the way you're thinking during a test because you mentioned that you might switch from like test riding mode, competition mode to training mode. Is it that you're always sort of in training mode when you're competing or is it that, is that literally like a switch in your brain? You'd be like, okay, something's come up here that I didn't expect. Forget about the test. I'm training.

Yeah, for me personally, you're always entering all of the tests in this, with this posture and intention to Ride really well in a test way. Like, it's almost like you want the horse to feel this slight little bit more importance or whatever. I don't know what the word is there, but just you want to feel there's intention, so they learn to pick up and go in the ring and. And with this, bring this, and that should be able to be replicated at home. I think there's a. There's difference. There's a difference in a test riding posture and intention in the rider that the horse should notice and not link it with pressure, not link it with nervousness, but just link it with, oh, things are important really now. Yeah, Now, I'll personally try and enter every test with that same intention. However, if something goes wrong, depending on the importance of the show, if. If it's a show where I'm really trying to do well, I'm very much about, okay, I need to leave that mistake in that movement. I need to be set up for the next movement. The next movement starts right now, and we're back to square one and trying to minimize the damage. If I do have a problem at a show where it's less important, and I've really gone there with the mindset of, this is me training my horse through the competition, I want to feel it, then I'll step much more into training mode. And not to the point where I'm being rude to the judges, which I have done in the past. And probably. I don't think that's the protocol you should adopt. I think you should try to stay respectful to the judges and stay within the lines of the test. Perhaps if you do need. If your horse gives you a major problem, perhaps circling to keep the flow, putting your hand up to acknowledge you've made a mistake, you've deviated off the lines, is courteous. But try to stay a little bit on the line so that because, you know, you right, the judges are giving you concentration and they are trying to score you, you know, you haven't.

Yeah.

You haven't written past the car by this. What. And said them. By the way, I'm training today.

Right.

Yeah. So, yeah. But, yeah, I definitely will approach some of those things in a much more of a training way, hopefully, to then be able to give my horses a reward when they've responded well in that situation, to go, you know what? I think I just solved the problem in the test. I think I just. I think I've just. That was really good. Yeah.

So we're talking about training the horse you have today, and I'D love to hear your thoughts about maybe why you think riders might struggle with letting go of expectations from previous rides. I know in other podcast episodes you've talked about how we kind of have to get on our horses each day and almost feel like we're starting from scratch just to have no expectation. So do you think that that is a bit of an issue that riders do struggle with letting go of expectation of what they've done yesterday or last week or last month?

Yeah, it's human nature. Like, I think, I don't know this for a fact, but I think the human race is kind of one of the only races that actually has this pre, pre thought forethought of, you know, like, you know, of being able to actually manifest an expectation.

Yeah.

And we, we need to learn from our, our animal kingdom friends that no, just ride what you get on the day. Don't, don't even, don't even do it to yourself. Like, I mean, and in a lot of sports psychology they often talk about that, that expectation is absolutely the, the enemy of, of progress and process. You know, it's the enemy of process because expectation is really useless. It gives you nothing other than a bit of a flutter thinking that, you know, perhaps if I do this, I could win this and be carrying around with the rug on. But it is. Expectation is the most useful, useless, sorry emotion we can use in a sporting context because, you know, really staying in the moment and staying right there and having that, like we said that mindful of structure and, and knowledge and plan A's and plan B's and plan C's and understanding of this is a shoulder problem and this is a frame problem and this is a, a pace problem. Really be able to problem solve and throw and just stay in the process and then have that structure of, you know, my test writing. I need to do this line. I need to do this line, oops, there's a problem. Now I need to train that. Where is the problem coming from? Yeah. So you, you can do that with absolutely no expectations whatsoever about how your horse should feel or, or go at a show, I think. But it's human nature. I mean, I'm as guilty as anyone as having expectations. I have trained myself, probably because I've made the mistake so many times, trained myself not to get any expectations. I'm, I'm pretty good at stamping out those thoughts.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean that, that's years of experience, isn't it? It's easier said than done.

It's human nature.

Yeah. I think for Anyone interested in hopping over and joining us in the Gold program and you're interested in this sort of topic, you would love what we're talking about actually at the moment, at the time of recording. Because this month, Brett, we're really delving into the art of uncovering problems, you know, and what we've talked about in this podcast is, is quite closely related because we've got our coach, Laura Graves, riding a test at a competition in which things go wrong and she talks through it and then she rides a training session like the next day or two days after on those exact issues that came up in the test. And, and it was all about information from the test. You know, she wasn't there to, to win that test or anything. She was there to gain information in an early stage of horses career and to plug that information into her, her training. So it was very much a case of just dealing with the horse she had on the day and just being curious about the information, not really changing anything, and then really digging deep into those things in training. Because, okay, we're riding the horse we have on the day, but on the day of competition, things will come up, won't they, that don't come up at home. That's the nature of it and that's the beauty of competition. And like you're saying, not every competition is the, is our version of the Olympics. We've got to choose what's important to us. But it's, it's a, it's an exercise of giving us tools or information to take back into the training.

That's right. And look, that is the challenge of competition is to put yourself in a place, you know, often place, it's foreign to everybody, you know, in a place at a time, under the microscope. And the microscope is, and I've often said to people, you know, if someone said to you, I want you to walk from here to there, 20 meters and we're gonna, we're going to have five people examine every single footstep. All of a sudden that walk is quite nervous how to walk. That's right. You forget how to walk.

Yeah.

And you know they're going to mark you on every stage of this walk. Yes. And so, you know, it's normal to then feel like you go to a show and it's all different and special and all these things and. Yeah, that's why it is good to have that mindset of, you know what I've, I'm going to go in here with the intention, but I'm still training. I'm still thinking. I've got this mind where I'm thinking and I'm just going to ride what I get. Stay in the moment. No expectations. Ride what I get. Oops. There's something I didn't expect. Okay, Ride through this. And then. And back on our subject of riding the horse on the day, that's what the horse is doing. The horse is just responding. They are completely in the moment.

Yes.

We have to match them. Match them in that and not let things like expectation or hopes and dreams or anything like that just get in the way of that process.

Love that. What a great note to end on. Fantastic conversation. Thank you, Brett. Good.

Thank. You.