But I'm finally back and posting, so I'm doing my second one today, and my story is on horse leasing.
You see, when I was younger and not nearly as experienced, I was offered a horse lease by a person that was going away to queensland for 6 months. At the time, it was very exciting. Like SUPER DUPER exciting, since I was still really upset about not owning a horse, and I thought that leasing was the next best thing.
So, I went and tried out the horse. I really loved her, because I loved to go fast, and this pony was about as fast and sensitive as they got. The deal almost worked out. I was so excited. I thought about all the fun I was going to have, about all the things I was going to learn, blablabla.
But what I didn't realize at the time was that that deal really wasn't good for me... at all. I could list the endless reasons why the deal wasn't good for me. The venue had very limited facilities, there wasn't going to be anyone supervising me, but mostly because I wasn't experienced enough, and I thought I could control the horse when really, I couldn't.
When the deal didn't work out (and thank god it didn't otherwise I would probably have a million injuries and made half the progress I have now), I was devastated. I kept thinking about what a great deal it was (which it wasn't) and how much I loved the horse. I think it took me a while to realize how bad the deal had been for me, because I was so focused on the fact that I was FINALLY going to be leasing a horse and less focused on how I was actually going to make progress. Actually, no, that's a bit of a lie. I was thinking about how I was going to make progress, except at that point in my life, I thought the only way to make progress was to lease. I thought that I knew so much about horse riding, that leasing/buying a horse was the only thing that could benefit me.
I have this theory that the more you know, the more you realize you don't know. And it's true, for me at least. After the lease didn't work out, I moved to a different barn and started learning things I had never even thought about before. I started realizing how much I didn't know, and how I really wasn't very experienced at all.
Looking back now, I'm not upset that the deal didn't work for me, not one bit. Because I know that if the deal had worked out, I wouldn't have realized my flaws, and I wouldn't have realized how I could improve. Really, I wouldn't be half the rider I am now. Thinking small and taking good lessons has taken me so much further than thinking big would have.
So anyway, the moral of this story is to not jump ahead into things when you're not ready- Having/leasing a horse is not the only way to move forward. Start small, take lessons, and realize how much you DON'T know before making any big decisions.
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