What “Factually” Happened in Your Run?
How many days old were you when you thought you made up a new word “Factually” and then googled it and found it in the dictionary as an Ad-Verb.
I was today days old “July 16th 2019”. Even though I didn’t invent it (and my brain REALLY wants to take credit for it), it is a GREAT word, I am going to use it in a big way in today’s article.
WHAT FACTUALLY HAPPENED IN YOUR RUN?
As in, are you using facts to support what happened?
I am going to point a few fingers here, so tighten up your belts
1. Society (that includes me and you) seems to have a tough time sorting out the facts of what happened, without us taking or adding some portion of our personal self into it. We are now allowed to post untruthful facts (especially via social media but also major media outlets) without ANY CONSEQUENCES. YES NONE.
2. Our clinicians have gravitated away from proof and results based teaching – there are rarely follow ups or changes to accommodate a horse, no one is offering a single guarantee.
We have added a super cool overhead visual view to Interval Timing.com this year. We set up cameras around the arena and instead of the camera moving, the horse and rider move around the screen. It isn’t really for sharing with your non-barrel racing friends, as it is very factual. This view should take away any and all interpretations you might be adding into your run. The Interval Timers tell you exactly how long it took, and the overhead view shows you exactly where you went and now we have REALLY amped it up with the “MY PATH” option, which leaves a yellow line where you went. You can see each footstep, your hand position, your body position and the horse’s body position through every inch of your run.
This to me, is ground breaking and something everyone needs to see, but I have come up against some interesting thoughts from Riders and one person actually vocalized it.
I was explaining our “super cool edition” and dropping my sales pitch. She listened to me and then responded that “Oh I don’t want to see that, I might actually have to take the blame for what happened.” Insert a super awkward look on my face and myself speechless.
There aren’t a lot of times in my life that I am at a loss for words, but this moment was one of them. I think I might have responded with a quick, curt “Interesting.” (which is my go to when I don’t want to say something rude or inappropriate and am at a loss for words).
No one wants to be the “SCAPEGOAT”, ESPECIALLY not your horse.
SCAPEGOAT – noun
1. a person who is blamed for the wrongdoings, mistakes, or faults of others, especially for reasons of expediency.
Are you blaming your horse for what is going wrong in your run? If so, you have a problem. Like a huge problem, because unless you lost all control of your limbs, brain and body during the run, you are the captain, so need to be taking responsibility for how and where the vessel is travelling. If you aren’t the captain, you need to address that stat.
This trend seems to be coming from rider’s interpretation of what is happening, not what is factually happening
It is an extreme advantage to start basing your barrel racing quantifiable information, and learn to sort out the opinions from the facts. The best way to start doing that is to pull up the good ole 5 W’s & the H – Who, What, When, Where, Why & How.
Are you using facts to help yourself dissect your run or would you rather put your head in the sand and pretend. I hope you pick the first of the 2 options 🙂 If you would like to learn the FACTS about how your horse is BUILT TO MOVE, join our next session!
Originally published July 19, 2019 on The Take Time off the Clock Website