Steve Guerdat stood on the podium in Aachen with tears in his eyes. “Once I jumped the last fence, all the emotions came up,” he said after becoming World Champion with Dynamix de Belheme. “I have no words for it and what it means.” (World of Showjumping)
This was not a rider experiencing victory for the first time. This was an Olympic champion, a European champion and a three-time World Cup Final winner. Yet the emotion was unmistakable.
Elsewhere in the arena, there was disappointment. Richard Vogel and United Touch S had an unexpected refusal. It was the kind of moment that reminds us that no amount of experience, preparation or previous success can guarantee the ride we imagined.
Only three months earlier, the same partnership had won the Aachen Grand Prix. “I don’t cry often,” Vogel said after that victory. “But today is a beautiful reason to have tears in my eyes.” (Chronicle of the Horse)
That is equestrian sport. A perfect round can mean everything. One difficult moment can stay with us long after we leave the arena. The scale may be different, but the feelings are familiar to every rider.
For one person, success is standing on the podium in Aachen. For another, it is finally riding a balanced transition, maintaining the canter or feeling a young horse begin to understand an exercise. Our goals may look small from the outside, but with our own horses, they are never small to us.
We invest so much in riding. Physically, financially and emotionally. A brilliant session can lift an entire day. A difficult one can make us question our progress, our decisions and sometimes even ourselves.
When a ride feels worse than it was
Most riders know the feeling of leaving the arena convinced that everything went wrong.
The transitions felt untidy. The horse was distracted. The exercise that worked yesterday suddenly fell apart. By the time we reach the stable, one difficult moment has grown large enough to define the whole session.
Then we watch a video or speak to our coach and hear: “It was better than you thought.”
Emotion is part of what makes our connection with horses so powerful. It gives us commitment, sensitivity, and the desire to improve. But it can also make it difficult to see a ride clearly.
When we are in the saddle, there is already so much to process. We are thinking about our position, the horse’s rhythm, the next movement, our coach’s instructions, and what we are feeling underneath us. When frustration, excitement, fear or disappointment enters that picture, the mind becomes even busier.
We begin to overthink. One mistake becomes the story of the entire ride, while the quiet improvements are easily forgotten.
