EquiTeam’s resident coach Liz Daniels shares her views on perfection v’s progress.
Before we start I have to confess I am not a perfectionist in any sense of the word – but I do strive for progress. Both personally, and through my coaching.
I have many situations where I see such huge steps forwards, only to have a conversation started by the rider which goes along the lines of, “Yes, but it’s still not perfect.”
My answer is always the same:
You wouldn’t give a child at the age of five a pen and expect them to write a novel.
You spend time educating the child on how to hold the pen, how to form letters, how to write words and spell. Then you progress to sentences, spelling, punctuation and grammar.
And then there are years of practice, building their vocabulary, exploring ideas, and growing and learning from experiences before they are ready to pen a novel.
Is this any different to educating your horse?
Not in my book (excuse the bad pun)!
The problem with striving for perfection is that you set yourself up to fail, and you forget to reward and enjoy the progress.
And that goes for your horse too. If you constantly feel disappointed and forget to reward your horse then how do they know that they are doing a good job and getting it right? How do they know to try a little harder for you unless you praise their efforts to try?
I’d much rather see a horse and rider combination trying their best with a smile on their face, than a tense horse and rider who are scared in case they get it wrong.
What is perfection and does it even exist?
Personally, when it comes to horses, I am not sure perfection does? You can have a ‘perfect’ moment, a memory that you will treasure for a lifetime – but does it last and become perfection?
I’m sure if you asked Charlotte Dujardin if her latest medal winning test was ‘perfect’ she would say no! Within that test there would have been moments of perfection, but was the test as a whole perfect through her eyes?
While there is nothing wrong in striving to be better, I think that perfection brings unrequired pressure and a huge sense of not being good enough.
Instead of striving for perfection I’d rather strive for progress and strive to enjoy the journey, telling my horse and my clients how brilliant they are along the way.
Liz x
