What Drives You?

Like fingerprints, we are all unique. We have strengths and weaknesses that make us special and define who we are. Often times the greatest difference between riders is what drives us. Fear driven riders want very badly to succeed but lack the confidence to believe they can, instead of focusing on what they believe can happen they focus on what they’re afraid might happen. Likewise outcome driven riders base their self-worth on the outcome of their rides, instead of feeling good about their performance they focus on standings (who they beat and who beat them) and as a result worry about losing, embarrassing themselves, or not living up to the expectations of others.

A third kind of rider is the one who is success driven, unlike the other two these riders focus on what they must do in order to ride well. They do not focus on the boulders blocking their paths but instead figure out how to climb on top of them so they can have a better view. They are able to maintain a positive outlook because they embrace challenges as much as successes and battles as much as victories. Like a toddler who treats everything as an opportunity to learn and who constantly falls and knocks things over, these riders have learned the same thing, falling and knocking things over are just opportunities to learn.

Riders can be classified in two other ways, feelers are those who make an effort only when they feel like it (when it is convenient and easy) or do not do things when they do not feel like it (like when it is hard). The opposite of feelers are doers, riders who embrace challenges and refuse to let short-term discomfort or disappointment derail their efforts to achieve long-term success. They believe in themselves and take responsibility for mistakes and missed opportunities and are therefore able to learn from them.

One of the surest ways to improve as a rider is to identify any fear or outcome driven tendencies and then change them into a drive for success. Instead of waiting until we feel it might be easy we do it now even if though it might be hard.

When it comes to our riding we should always remember:

To get whatever we want we should do whatever it takes.

Tactical Maneuver Cross Country and Show Jumping in the Preliminary Level Division:

The Bad and the Ugly news, though, (as they are pretty much the same thing in this case), is that we are going to have to bow out of Rolex for 2012. Although there is no permanent damage, Jet took a hard blow to his leg at The Fork near the end of the course and there is still too much contusion in the joint for the level of effort that Rolex will require. He is doing quiet flat work and there is still a possibility that we will run the CCI*** at Jersey Fresh in mid-May. He is a competitor at heart and I will let him tell me when he is ready to run again.

I am truly disappointed about not being able to compete at Rolex 2012, and of course mad at myself for missing the distance in the combination where Jet hit his leg, but that will have to be fuel for getting us ready for Rolex in 2013. This winter was very busy here at the farm but one of the most personally rewarding and motivating things was my daily session with Jet as we prepared for a CCI****. In the book “Talent is Overrated,” author Geoff Colvin talks about the importance of deliberate practice on the road to success. He writes, “Deliberate practice is characterized by several elements, each worth examining. It is activity designed specifically to improve performance, . . . it can be repeated a lot, . . . it’s highly demanding mentally, . . . and it isn’t much fun.” Jet and I did a lot of deliberate practice this winter, and I loved every demanding, repetitive, not fun moment of it. Riding young horses is very rewarding because they learn so quickly and the training process is very transparent. Having a horse at Jet’s stage, however, which is a horse who very much knows his job and knows his rider but can still improve within his work, and having a rider at my stage who knows my job and knows my horse but can still improve within my work, is truly one of the things that makes my life feel purposeful. Jet and I spent many hours this winter clawing our way up the mountain towards the next plateau, focusing for days at a time on small details of our performance. The result was a horse who was going the best that he has ever gone in his career, and a rider who knew that she could still make him better. At eleven, Jet is still a young advanced horse. I look forward to the time that we still have together.

As for Rolex this year, I know the roster will change before the first trot-up. Getting there is probably half of the battle. To all of my friends and colleagues who will compete in Lexington next week, I hope that your months of deliberate practice pay off for you and that you have a great show.

Ashley

This weekend I am running Gucci (Tactical Maneuver) and Wheels (Great Wheels) at the final Ocala Horse Properties HT of the season. Gucci did his dressage today, placing 4th out of 28 horses in the preliminary division. Wheels begins his training level division tomorrow.

I have videos and pictures to post and will try to do so next week. Another place to check out updates is Ashley Leith Equestrian on Facebook.

I am ordering new Ashley Leith Equestrian t-shirts, jackets, totes and hats. If you need one, contact me for images and pricing!

Monte continues to prepare for the Ocala CCI** with a 7th place finish in the intermediate division yesterday at Rocking Horse Winter III Horse Trials and congratulations are in order to my mom. This weekend I rode her homebred quarter horse gelding Best Kept Secret to a 3rd place finish in the novice division at Rocking Horse. She was very tickled.

The restaurant was buzzing with excitement. Minutes after arriving and putting on a nametag I was approached by a man with a squeaky bald head and a warm smile. He was wearing a collared shirt and a bright green sweater, giving me the impression of a Leprechaun. He stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Dan.” In mild surprise I realized that this was Dan Cathy, the president and CEO of Chick Fil-A restaurants and the person whom I had come to hear speak. I quickly realized, though, that this hands-on style of warmth and welcoming was a cornerstone of Cathy’s leadership style. He invited me to get a fresh squeezed lemonade and to help myself to some fruit salad and freshly prepared chicken fingers. After sampling some of the food I found a seat at a table along the wall. Every employee in the Chick Fil-A restaurant on Rt. 200 in Ocala was bustling around with smiles on their faces refilling drinks and clearing plates.

I was attending this function as a member of the Professional Riders Organization, but youth leadership groups and other local business professionals had also been invited to the speaking event. After everyone was settled and fed, Cathy divided us up into five groups to tour the kitchen. As Cathy said, “Maybe there is a reason why Chick Fil-A invites its customers to a backstage tour of their kitchens and other restaurants don’t.” Cathy was very proud of the fact that Chick Fil-A uses fresh ingredients and whole chicken breasts breaded on-site. I don’t often eat fast food and I had never been to a Chick Fil-A restaurant before that evening. After the tour and the sampling of food that Cathy had offered his guests, however, I realized that I would happily go back.

After walking through the kitchen in groups we sat down to hear Cathy speak. First, he pulled out an old-fashioned leather doctor’s satchel. He approached a few teens from the ROTC Airforce group that was in attendance. He told them to each pull something out of the bag. He then held up the objects one at a time and explained to the audience how each of the tools in what he called his “leadership bag” helped him. One of the items was an air mask that is deploys when an airplane looses oxygen in the cabin. What was the lesson behind this tool? As a leader, you must always put your own air mask on first in order to be able to help others. Cathy said that it took him years to not feel guilty about taking time during the middle of the day to exercise, or taking time to spend with his family, or heaven forbid getting eight hours of sleep a night. He came to realize, though, that other people relied on him and if he was not fresh and healthy, he would not be able to lead them.

Another item in the bag was a slinky. On the slinky were three statements. The first read, “Leaders go first.” The second read, “Leaders develop followers.” The last statement said, “Followers become leaders.” After reading these statements out loud, Cathy “walked” the slinky down some steps as a demonstration. I thought Cathy’s use of physical objects to drive home leadership concepts was very memorable.

During the discussion Cathy also brought up concepts he uses in business. He talked about surrounding yourself with “the right people on the right seat on the right bus.” He also told us one of his favorite acronyms — the word SERVE. The letters stood for, See and shape the future, Engage and develop others, Reinvent continuously, Value results and relationships, and, Embody the values.

Cathy’s principles have proven effective. Chick Fil-A has recently become a debt-free organization and has grown fiscally every year since being founded by Cathy’s father in 1967. In the Ocala restaurant, the employees were very upbeat and far more knowledgeable about Chick Fil-A that I would have anticipated. The company obviously takes the time to hire employees at every level who believe in the Chick Fil-A philosophy.

I showed up cold that evening and didn’t know what to expect from either Dan Cathy or his talk. What I came away with, however, was renewed inspiration to be a better leader. Professionals in the sport of three-day-eventing may not run large corporations, but we are all businesspeople and leaders. It was refreshing to see Cathy’s positive energy and intrapersonal skills from the perspective of another business model. Even though I know nothing about the restaurant business, Cathy’s points were certainly ones that we could all learn from.

On Monday, February 13th and Tuesday, February 14th, the United States Eventing Association’s Instructor Certification Program hosted a two-day teaching symposium at Betsy Watkin’s Longwood Farm in Ocala, FL. On the first day, Stephen Clark of the UK, president of the Olympic Ground Jury in September, taught dressage to six groups from training level through advanced level event horses and then taught three top level dressage riders. On the second day, Olympic gold medal recipient Leslie Law taught cross country jumping to five groups of riders ranging from novice level through intermediate level. At the end of every session the clinicians fielded questions from the audience and discussed the methods and training techniques used.

In the riding world, there are instructors who are positionists and instructors who are executionists. The first group focuses on riders developing a correct position. The second group focuses on riders getting the job done. With elegant style, both of these world-class instructors were able to influence and reinforce correct rider position to demonstrate harmony and simplicity in executing correct training through the levels.

I rode on both days in the intermediate level group, taking different horses each day. On Monday I rode Tactical Maneuver in the semi-private dressage lesson with Stephen. Tactical Maneuver, or Gucci as I call him, is a seven-year-old off the track thoroughbred. Although Gucci has a lot of talent and has moved through the lower levels quickly, he is still a very inexperienced horse and he can be prone to emotional outbursts when he feels pressure. He has only just moved up to intermediate level and I knew that he might prove to be a bit of a wild card in the clinic. With the thought of dressage, though, I figured that most riders would be bringing warmbloods. On principle, I wanted to see how Stephen would handle a hotter thoroughbred horse. As it turned out, Stephen was a master.

While watching us warm up, Stephen was immediately insightful about Gucci’s level of training. His first direction to us was to go back to the building blocks and create suppleness through the topline by having Gucci deepen his frame and stretch his neck. Only after Stephen felt that he was through did he have me rebalance Gucci into a more elevated and engaged frame and move on to different movements. As we worked, Stephen also systematically noted my position strengths and weaknesses. He felt my seat and my hand position were both very good, but he asked me to stretch open through the front of my chest, and he noted that my left elbow had a bit too much movement. With these two position changes addressed, we continued to work with the shoulder in, haunches in, half pass and lengthen in the trot. Then we moved on to cantering a serpentine of four loops with simple changes of lead across center line. At this point in the session a big hole became apparent. Gucci struggles with walk/canter, canter/walk transitions. He becomes tense and can almost be explosive. Stephen immediately shifted gears. He told me to be more systematic in my approach and to focus on the steps necessary to create the clean transition. He also allowed me to use a canter circle to relax Gucci through the topline before a downward transition. He said to me that I needed to use the strength of my position to influence the balance of my horse. “Your back must stay strong in a canter/walk transition, but your hands must stay low so that your horse will stay through.” I cantered around the next half circle to center line and focused on Stephen’s instructions. Gucci executed a crisp and relaxed canter/walk transition. The change was so apparent that the audience broke out in spontaneous applause. Within the lesson Stephen taught meticulous application of a correct progression of training and a strong rider position. This created a correct execution.

On Tuesday I rode my more experienced intermediate horse Monte Carlo in the intermediate level jumping group with Leslie Law. After a warm-up, Leslie had us begin by jumping a single fence out of rhythm. We then progressed to jumping a four-jump course around the field. Leslie again asked us to meet each fence out of rhythm. None of the fences were complicated or had vertical faces. Between the fences I rode in a two-point. As I came to each fence I sank into a light three-point position. Leslie liked what he saw with Monte and me. My group then jumped around a few more mini-courses with success. In the last jump set of the lesson, Leslie had us progress to a more difficult course. It started with an oxer, then we did a jump into water, a skinny coffin, a bounce, and finally a very spooky narrow jump that was actually circular on top, so it was as wide as it was narrow. Monte jumped the water well, but then peeked at the skinny coffin. I came out of the coffin and hit him with my whip and dug my spurs in as we went up the hill. I knew I only had that one stretch to get him in front of my leg before the bounce, which was not going to be pretty if he peeked at it. Monte responded beautifully and moved forward. After a short gallop he rebalanced quickly on the turn into an active canter on the approach to the bounce. After the bounce complex we turned to the skinny circle jump, with a downhill approach. This jump just invited a run-out or a peek and I knew that with Monte if I in any way let the run-out happen that Monte would immediately begin to think that it was a good way of life. In other words, I have learned with Monte in particular to make sure to do things right the first time because otherwise I have to spend a long time going back and correcting the miscommunication. Monte galloped down and jumped the skinny circle jump without hesitation. In the course of five jumps, Leslie had given us a sequence that was able to put my horse on his feet for an intermediate run. In the discussion afterwards, Leslie also commented on the skinny jump. He said, “When I am brave enough on any given horse to jump that jump, I am at the point that I know I can jump it right, because otherwise it just asks for trouble.”

During the lesson, Leslie spoke to the audience about how developing a strong lower leg so as to support a strong upper body position was key in cross country riding. One of his teaching threads throughout the day was to talk about how sometimes falling into a full driving seat before every jump can actually disrupt a horse’s balance and flatten them or cause them to run. He then pretended to run across the field with an imaginary backpack moving on his shoulders. If the backpack is constantly shifting balance, he said, it is hard for the person running to stay in one balance. The same is true for our horses when we make sudden changes in our balance while riding. Instead, he advocated building a strong lower leg position to anchor a rider, no matter where they are with their upper body. This enables the rider to not have to sit vertically before every galloping jump, and that in turn can be more efficient. Plus, when a rider does need to sit vertically, like before a coffin jump or water complex, it can be done in a fluid motion that keeps the horse and rider in harmony. Leslie too was able to connect for the audience and the riders the importance of combining correct position with correct execution.