Pushing through your comfort zone - yes or no?

[Linden]

I think a huge difference between a trainer and a rider is the willingness and the confidence to deliberately push the limits of you and your horse's comfort zone while schooling alone. What do you guys think about this? do you stay within your comfort zone so as to keep the peace until your coach is around to help you, or do you take the initiative and try new things all on your own, even if you know it will probably rock the boat?

just curious.

[DJR]

I do the latter. I like to take what I’ve learned and expand on it when I’m riding on my own. It helps me solidify what I’ve been taught and practice applying it in different situations. Then when I have my next lesson, I can show my trainer what I’ve been working on and get help honing it further.

[StraightForward]

Well both. The person I lesson with is out of state, so at best she sees us once a month. I will try different exercises and things on my own to try to solve problems and improve things, but she pushes us to work harder than I would on my own. I guess I'm comfortable experimenting, so I don't feel like I'm out of my comfort zone, even if I'm trying something I haven't done before.

[Moutaineer]

Hah, Lindon... You are in my brain...

The clinician I ride with regularly had a bit of a go at me (and several other riders) about this last time we rode with her... "Just DO something, just do SOMETHING! You'll never improve unless you are prepared to experiment and see what happens when you do." So I'm riding with this thought at the forefront of my mind as I try to become more of a trainer and less of a passenger.

But I have to say, there are some things I don't feel capable of working on without supervision at present--Somehow I feel that with the greater knowledge and greater skills that I have learned, I have less confidence to just wing it on certain things than I have done in the past. The "Conscious Incompetence" stage, I guess.

[Flight]

I'm always trying stuff I probably shouldn't

But I do tend to generally under ride everything when I'm on my own.

[exvet]

I'm a lot like you Flight LOL but I must admit that with each project I have developed the tendency to push more and more on my own.

[demi]

I think knowing just how far one can push oneself, or one’s horse, requires quite a bit of experience and knowledge (and/or talent). I have pushed on my own before, and have also been pushed by the wrong trainers, but neither way worked very well. Now, I’ve finally found an excellent trainer that I trust to push me AND my horse to just the right degree. I don’t push myself or my horse out of our comfort zones on my own. That may change in the future, but for now, I’m content to let the trainer push us once a week.

And by the way, Linden, I very much recognize your abilities, and I appreciate your contributions to this board. You have good writing skills in addition to your horsemanship! Thanks for sharing.

[Ryeissa]

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[piedmontfields]

I'm always trying stuff I probably shouldn't

Me, too! But it keeps life interesting. When I work with a good trainer, I often have the experience of being pushed for more overall quality---which is not about going outside my comfort zone, just about paying better attention and making demands on all dimensions of the work. And I usually ask such trainers, "you really think my horse can do that?" to which I get told yes and you need to expect it and do it all the time!

I have the bad habit of thinking too little of me and my horse. Probably because I've seen plenty of untalented and/or uneducated rider/trainers who are enormously proud of how skilled they are and how good their horses are. I'd rather not be like that.

[blob]

I have a lot of experience starting and restarting young horses. I've probably started 50+ youngsters under saddle. So, when I'm dealing with green horses, particularly the first 6 months under saddle I am good about knowing when and how much to push. However, beyond that stage, knowing when and how much is something I struggle with. I'm sure it's partly because so much of my riding in general has been with young horses and I haven't had a lot of experience with a long-lasting partnership. But knowing when to up the ante and by how much is one of the most valuable things I get from working with my trainer.

My two are also very mentally different. If I push my pony too quickly, he can get mentally frazzled and we lose everything. So, I tend to be very conservative with him. I very much depend on my trainer to give me the nudge of 'i think he can handle a bit more'. My mare on the other hand gets bored super easily and is very hard to frazzle. I could probably throw something new at her every single ride and she would be fine with it. With her I look to my trainer to help me find the balance. I need to keep her excited and engaged mentally but I also can't move so fast that the body can't keep up.

[chantal]

I push beyond my comfort zone. Usually with friends though. We've been playing a lot in the fields near XC jumps...

And even canter or other work. I love to play. We can always come back to comfortable and be confident in that.

[Hayburner]

I play it safe and ride a short ride and I don't go out of my comfort zone, which is pretty much walking and a smidgen of trot.

It's taken a long time to even get to this point, walking in a relaxed state, and I'm fearful of trotting by myself. I don't like being the only person at the barn and riding alone. Even if someone is just standing in the arena I feel more confident.

on my old horse we walk, trot and cantered alone all the time. We also trail rode alone, he was a saint! She can get quick and then if she is tense or off balance she gives the Andalusian quick step in place! It's kind of scary.....and I'm not always sure how to fix it.

[Tanga]

I think the only way to move forward in anything in life is to push beyond your comfort zone, always. That IS growth. The balance is to find when and how much to do so.

With horses it's a matter of knowing whether resistance is because it's new and hard or confusing, and this is where you need to push, or too much and it's too hard for the horse at this point. Thirty years ago in horse college this was a basic mantra of any training and riding--you have to push past the resistance of it being hard to grow, but stop before the resistance of they can't and it's going to cause problems. I think in general most people tend to push past the comfort zone too little, for themselves and the horses.

Hayburner, with your Andalusion quick step, I see an opportunity. Instead of fighting it and trying to make it go away, enjoy it and let he do it and train the quick step (which I know nothing about, but is what I wold do if a horse offered piaffe or passage.)

[heddylamar]

Now that I have my normal confidence back (got battered by a series of bad falls), I have no problem pushing through. I do pretty much everything unattended. If I didn't, we'd have zero progress.

[Kelo]

I wouldn't have gotten anywhere without pushing past my comfort zone. I might have 4 lessons a month, or I might have 0. If I waited for someone to supervise me, I'd never have gotten anywhere.

There is a positive reinforcement trainer that has an exercise called "101 things you can do with a box." The spirit of it is, put the dog and the box in the room, and click every. single. interaction. the dog does with the box. The philosophy is that you can't capture and shape a behavior unless it already exists. So you make it exist, then you perfect it.

I am pretty sure that's what I'm doing with riding. I just screw around until, say, my Quarter Horse starts doing something that resembles piaffe, then I reinforce it -- and then I fix it.

It's not ideal, but it's worked so far!

[exvet]

I'm right there with you Blob. I obviously have access to more regular (in time) advice; but, still with the number I use to ride I was on my own so much of the time. You take the information you have and you apply it to the best of your ability. You also know that 'you' can't progress if 'you' don't push your own envelope. Why wouldn't it be any different for riding?

[Moutaineer]

I think there's a difference between pushing through your comfort zone and pushing beyond what you consider to be safe. You can do the first without compromising the second, in my view.

[demi]

I pushed through my comfort zone yesterday. I was scheduled for a lesson Sept. 11, but the day before was 99 degrees and that night the first cold front came through. The morning of my lesson was 40 degrees with 30 mph gusts, and raining. I was worried that being tense from the extreme weather change Rocky might have a problem with loading. (Blob’s recent loading issue was in the back of my mind). I have a step up vs. ramp, but short legged Rocky sometimes slips a little on entry. I do use sand when it’s wet, but still...AND, even if we didn’t have a loading issue, I was nervous about riding in a lesson that day. Anyway, I decided to reschedule my lesson that morning.

Yesterday we had another cold front with high winds and rain. The temp drop wasn’t as extreme, and Rocky seemed fine so we went to the lessson. The trainer was getting the place ready for a clinic the next day and there was a lot of unusual activity. Two new, and excited horses were in the ring with us, plus two people were up on ladders cleaning the mirrors. The wind was blowing and the rain was noisy on the metal roof. I pushed through and had the best lesson ever.

As I get older, my body gets stiff in very cold weather and in the last several years I have slowed down my riding in the winter. This year however I am determined to keep up 5-6 days a week riding, plus weekly lessons. Pushing through yesterday had given my the confidence that I need to make it through the rest of the winter.

[piedmontfields]

Demi, I hear you on the weather change being hard on the body. I think both Emi and I go into a bit of shock when the temps drop suddenly (which has just happened here).

But it sounds like your work with Rocky is going really well! I had an "antelope" day with Emi last week as a front rolled in. I call it an antelope day because her canter can get so tight that she moves like a boingy pronghorn. We did survive (and I made the choice NOT to leave the arena!). I agree that working through challenges in a deliberate way does bring confidence to both horse and rider.