28/09/2026
This is so true. I've fallen into that pattern myself but the more often you practice the better you get.
The Practice of Practice.
I've been doing a lot of teaching in the real world over the past few weeks and the subject of 'How to practice' has come up a great deal. I reckon about 50% of the people I teach don't practice between lessons or clinics. That's probably an optimistic take on it, in truth.
And here's the kicker - it's not that they don't want to practice. They REALLY do. I often ask myself, what gets in the way?
Someone said something at this weekend's clinic which was such a helpful insight. When you don't regularly practice then each time you DO make an attempt you have to go through the messy, tricky, clunky 'starting over' bit - AGAIN. You never get to truly experience the fruits of your labor, where things are easier. You're always in the hard part and don't ever get to the 'Oh this feels sweet' stage. Therefore, you get put off practicing even more.
This really helped me understand one of the reasons why people who clearly do want things to be better with their horse and put so much effort in regarding their care (for instance) don't actually 'do the do' of practicing with their horse. Because - the only experience they have is of the hard part. They keep practicing session 1 over and over again with huge gaps in between.
If I take Captain Chaos, I mean Capri, as an example. I am now in the phase of getting to truly appreciate the sweetness of so many hours of practice. I could yet again leave him with an animal sitter (who said he was a very good boy throughout my absence) and on my return lead him out in the dawn light, sending him ahead of me through gates, wandering across big open fields, telling him how nice it is to see him. I get to enjoy the hours of practice.
However, if I had only practiced very intermittently, maybe leaving weeks between each leading practice (or whatever it might be) nothing would have improved enough to significantly stick. My brain, knowing there were so many things to deal with in the re-run of session 1 (and not looking forward to that task) would probably find another way to put off the act of practice. I never get to to experience how much nicer and easier and more intuitive things get as I continue to sessions 3...15...68...150...
If you find yourself finding all the reasons to tell your instructor why you haven't practiced, don't beat yourself up - you're really not alone. Your brain is undoubtedly doing its best to keep you safe, and stop you having yet another re-run of session 1. However, I promise you, there is gold on the other side of the rainbow, you just have to remind yourself you might not experience that until practice session 12 or 70...
