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Guest Blog post # 61: "Yesterday's Gone" by Bill Woods
Yesterday's Gone
My student says to me, "I'm so frustrated. He was really good over the weekend– light both days, doing nice changes, and even some pirouette steps." And I certainly believe her.
I gently remind her of Kyra Kyrklund's observation about riders who assume their horses will behave the same as their computer—where information which you input remains unquestioningly available whenever you need it. Except, of course, horses don't behave like that.
The very fact that he had been so good over the weekend might even be why he's less good now I explain. A couple of over enthusiastic back-to-back sessions may have depleted her account with him. As nice as it is to be able to pick up right where you left off, there are times a horse simply demands an extra half hour of softening and suppling before he's ready to really go to work. Realistically, sometimes that half hour stretches out to three days!
It's not the learning curve we wish for, but horses don't always read the same books that we do. The best we can hope for is that if you do make too large a withdrawal, you catch your error and fix it before things get too out of hand.
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