Sweet, Sweet Success!

Sometimes, when showing horses, it’s important to celebrate the small victories.

EC Blog by: Allyson Hicks

I won my first buckle with my horse, No Fun Being Good, but here’s what I think my real accomplishments are. First, I won a buckle while my husband and kids were at the horse show, and I never raised my voice… Well, honestly, I was pretty snippy with them because they were talking to me while I was in “show mode.”

Secondly, my husband actually enjoyed himself at the show and really seemed to be sharing my passion for showing horses… or maybe it was because of the beer and margaritas at our barn.

Third, my children even stayed for the win picture. Of course, there was horse show junk food involved, basically as much as they could eat and drink. Bribery at it’s best!

Over the past couple of months, I’ve had to break down my showing goals into smaller, more manageable tasks. One of which was to include my family more at the horse shows. I’ve been getting pretty nervous when showing, so to have some of my family there on the last day of a buckle series was a pretty big deal for me. As they were setting up for the Horsemanship class, I sat quietly on my horse, visualized the pattern, and reminded myself of the many reasons why I chose to be there at the show.

Photo courtesy of Shane Rux.

So, why do we show horses? At first, I thought it was because I’m a competitive person and I thrive on the experience of competition. However, after having showed for a few months now, I wouldn’t say that about myself. I’d now say that I’m a moderately competitive person who has a deep love of sporting horses. I like a challenge, and I love horses.

Being challenged is very different than being competitive. Being challenged is striving to achieve a personal set of goals that aren’t always measured by outside forces. Competition, on the other hand, is almost always measured by outside forces. For example, at a horse show, that force could be the judge or even your horse trainer.

Now that I feel I’m more challenge-oriented than competition-oriented, what happens in the arena doesn’t necessarily dictate my mood for the remainder of the show.

One of my goals is for my family to be included in my horse showing, and I’m as happy for that as for winning our first buckle.

Until next time,

Allyson Hicks & No Fun Being Good

PS. Now that I’ve determined I’m more of a “challenge-based” rider, I wonder what other types of riders are out there, and what kind of goals they set for themselves…