September  2004

I I always learn from my students. Recently, I readdressed lesson goals with several of them and found that many students mentally understand and can technically fulfill the role of rider. What is truly holding them back
is a lack of confidence.
 With my riders, I found a direct correlation between the amount of education and
lack of confidence. This isn’t a scientific study by any means, but if I take a highly educated student and ask them what their biggest challenge is with riding, I repeatedly get the same answer: Lack of confidence. Other riders with less education specifically list a skill or task, such as “keeping my hands quiet” or “loping”, as being their biggest challenge.
 What does this mean? Perhaps the level of awareness, in regards to our personal
obstacles, is higher in the educated group? Maybe less education leaves students more eager to take risks and less afraid of failure? Maybe the less educated are able to address one task at a time, gaining continual success and growth versus the highly-educated seeing one problem as their total failure in riding? Maybe the sample group of my “study” is just too small to draw any conclusion!
  No matter how I apply this information, I now stereotypically look at physicians,
lawyers, and engineers as riders lacking confidence, not necessarily skill – although I do know that either scenario is possible. This has affected what I do during lessons and how I gage a student’s success. I no longer see repeating the same exercise as mundane and silly to some riders. They need the repetition to build confidence! I also do not have to see major changes in the performance of the rider or horse – the rider needs to feel a change, which in turn provides a building block for the next skill or challenge. I need to be in tune with this growth and present challenges accordingly.
  The challenge with confidence levels is that many horses cannot be fooled by a rider who lacks it. Conversely, riders often need a horse that allows them to gain confidence. I call this “borrowed” confidence. It simply means that: Choosing a horse for each rider involves assessing the confidence of both so that neither
is overly challenged, and the one with higher levels willingly “loans” confidence to the other.
 It’s like a leveling out of confidence with both horse and rider seeking balance. Everyone has witnessed this scenario: The “babysitter” horse taking care of the green rider, or the rider who can get even the most
 anxious horse to walk quietly. Both are examples of borrowed confidence. Instructors and riders do need to be aware that borrowed confidence is not a license for a horse to guess or choose. It requires a level of respect between the two that insures the safety of the other.

Write Down Your Goals
My new awareness has brought me back to something I routinely did years ago:
Requiring my students to recognize their goals (in writing) as riders. I might be improperly assessing current students depending on academic experience, but all students, old and new, will soon be asked to reevaluate why
they ride and why they take lessons.
  Why do you ride and/or take lessons and what is holding you back? It may be worth the time to list the answers to these questions. You might find yourself one step closer becoming the confident horseperson you’ve always wanted to be!


Christina Fleming is a lifelong horsewoman living in Cerrillos, NM. She trains, gives lessons and offers clinics on a variety of subjects. She has a BS in Biology and is a
certified instructor, judge, and guide. Visit her website at
www.newmexicohorsetrainer.com or send her an E-mail at NMVaquera@aol.com.

Overstocked
One has to laugh at the car and truck outlets when they come to the conclusion
that they are overstocked. I mean, why order more vehicles when you have not sold a sufficient number to make room for more? After seeing that 36 ordinary saddle horses were for sale last Saturday in the paper, I was wondering if it was time for people to cut back on their breeding programs.

Is God Watching?
Jamie, an organizer of the Grants rodeo in New Mexico, I was told, was the brunt of
spiteful words and E-mail, when she arranged for the 4th of July parade to be held on Sunday (July 3rd)! Some churchgoers considered that it was
sacrilege to hold such an insult to God on “His day.” Dose not this type of uproar smack at a
dangerous religious precedent, when people
interfere with something so American as her
freedom celebrations?
As for my personal feelings, I would like to reprint – with slight alterations – my observations on a parade held a few years ago in Corrales, NM. It was July 3rd, 1999. Corrales I was told was to hold their 4th of July parade at one o’clock on Sunday afternoon. “One o’clock in the afternoon?” I said in amazement. Two days ago it was 102 in the shade, and that was under
a rock!
“Why not hold it at nine in the morning?” I offered to the one of the organizers. Apparently the parade committee had contemplated this very question and had come to the conclusion that people went to church at that time. After receiving this information I wondered if someone in the congregation could ask God if he could see His way clear for the congregation to go outside so his flock might enjoy the morning air. Yes, God could perch on a bough of a cottonwood tree as the parade
passed below, now and again descending to take a closer look at a ’57 Ford or little Joe’s pet sheep.
What a wonderful time he could have, watching the children as they scampered for
candy. And just for fun he could pop a balloon! Chattering old folk, freshly released from loneliness, sitting on a float, might catch his eye, and be offered a place in his glorious parade... someday.

Bulls Night Out
It is all in the news about San Fermin. I must admit that when I was in Pamplona, I
was too scared to run down the street with the bulls, because the crush of those hot-blooded Spaniards would impede your chances of escaping those sharp things that sprout out of their heads (the bulls). But De’nia (Spain) was a different story.

John Flint Martin may be reached at; rodeoclown6@hot-mail.
com or the same phone number 505-250-5908.