When was your last challenge?

When did you last challenge yourself to do something new or scary?

For me the big challenge was always trying a 160km... And then another one to see if it wasn't a fluke. And then see if I could do more, like the European Championships in 2019. Covid was a big break, and to be honest, I've never really came back from that. My fitness levels took a nosedive, menopause jumped in with a vengeance and my motivation crashed. I have always had mild heart issues that I was not aware of, but after they got worse, my aspirations for 160's were no longer viable. So I needed to find new challenges...

I found them in the way of challenging my mind and fears a bit more than I had been doing: riding at night (very tricky as a controlfreak with nightblindness), riding big horses (not my thing at all, too much power!), being judged (I take any comments way too serious and manage to talk myself into a spiral of "I'm totallt crap") in dressage tests and lessons. And recently I've taken the plunge to go on the EGB board of directors which means a lot of interaction with people, not always saying YES (which I'd like to to avoid any confrontations) and potentially being criticised on what I have done. Being a bit of a social recluse due to my "different wiring" I had withdrawn from people a lot. Joining the board was (and is) super scary and daunting, but its also good to open myself up for new things and find that I can do it, whilst still learing loads of course.

Challenges are interesting, they are a mix of super scary and super exciting. They give you motivation and a reason to better yourself, sometimes they even give you a reason to get out of bed or do things you don't really feel like. But they also make you doubt yourself, spike that insecurity and can even feel paralysing. I suppose its all in the balance. Like so many things.

Maybe you have challenged yourself and found it was a big mistake and now you have decided to play it safe. I totally understand and relate to that, but by keeping it safe you might be missing out on progress but most importantly, you might feel that you are not really going anywhere or are worried you are not a good endurance rider.

You see, finding a challenge that's big enough to be a stretch out of your normal comfortzone, but not too big so it is unachievable is the key to success. Its better to set up a string of reasonably small challenges, leading to a bigger result that wanting to jump in the deep end straight away. Which is probably why a number of challenges fail: the challenge is too big for the fitness of the horse, the skillset of the rider or there is not a big enough margin of error established to cope with anything going different to plan. Or a combination of all of the above.

So finding that right challenge, and subsequent string of progression is the way forward. And its not always straightforward. Sometimes there is just too much you feel is standing in your way, or there is so much you could choose from. 

Finding step one, and then draw up a couple of plans might seem tricky, but this is where I can help!
Making sense of the chaos is what I'm good at, so give me a shout and we'll find you a suitable challenge!

Contact me directly, or have a look on the website to find more about my coaching: https://groenequestrian.co.uk/endurance-coaching