Firstly I need to lay my cards on the table and admit that I already knew a little bit about David Holden’s journey before listening to our podcast interview with him.
I’m lucky to be part of Team Oakden and had been there when David and Krishna arrived on the yard with their new horses, Martin and George.
So when I sat down to edit our recent podcast ‘In the Saddle with David Holden’ I knew he would be a great guest to interview. But I wasn’t expecting it to stir up some of the emotions that I felt as I listened to David very eloquently tell us how close he came to giving up.
Our EquiTeam journey, which started in January, has been a crazy ride of excitement (let’s do this), nervousness (is anyone going to want to join), imposter syndrome (are we good enough) and endless ideas for content that we can share with you all.
One thing the three of us really wanted to do was to tell real people’s stories. EquiTeam is not for professional riders but for amateur riders who might be dreaming about going to their first clinic, riding their first dressage test or like David, going out to do some BE events.
It’s for those people who are trying to juggle work, family, life and horses and trying to find the right support to help them achieve their goals and overcome those moments when the self-doubt creeps in and we want to give up.
I use the word ‘we’ because most of us, Liz, Lou and me included have all been there. That point when it feels like it’s too difficult or we are so nervous that we question why we do it. And I’m convinced it’s the horrible, difficult, frustrating bits that we need to all be more open and honest about.
Social media is a brilliant platform, it’s allowed us to create our awesome EquiTeam community for one. But as we all know it can also be somewhere for people to share the good bits and ‘gloss over’ the bad days. When all we see is other riders winning at life it can make us feel even more alone and like we are the only ones struggling.
Which brings me back to David and how his interview made me feel. Here we have a 59 year old man, who only started riding at the age of 45 telling us so honestly, how close he came to giving up.
He’d even sent the text message telling his coaches Sarah and James Oakden that he wanted to give up and sell the horses! Thankfully for David they knew exactly what they were doing and ignored the message and just quietly set about restoring some of his lost confidence and knew they had to try and relight his love for the sport again.
And to hear him sharing so positively how his eventing season finished and what his goals for the winter are, made me feel so bloody proud for him, proud of what he had achieved but also proud that he was willing to come on our podcast and be so honest about his journey.
We need more Davids… we need more people, just like you and me, willing to come and speak to us and share your own journeys in order to help others.
If you are on this crazy mad horsey journey then I guarantee that you have something that someone needs to hear right now. It might be as simple as how you manage to juggle life and your horses, how you went about finding the right support crew to help you achieve your goals, how you had to make the tough decision that your horse wasn’t the right one for you or how like David you came bloody close to giving up.
It’s super easy to record a podcast via Zoom and I know that Liz D would love to spend 30 minutes chatting to you (we all know she loves to talk!), so just drop us a message and we can have a chat.
And David if you are reading this, thank you… I loved listening to your story and reading the feedback from other people who got so much from it. We will be cheering loudly for you and Hamish as you spend the winter pointing your toes to get those winter regional qualifications and get ready to jump out of the XC start box next spring.
Liz S x
