My pen was already poised to write a check for a clinic with a well known coach focusing on mental toughness, "pressure proofing" the rides. I had read one of his books on that subject and really liked it. My former eventing instructor recommended him. The clinic was not too far away, and -compared to rides with top dressage coaches- reasonably priced.
All good, right? Wait: My "don't sign up if you haven't audited first" rule popped up and - thank you, Internet search! - I decided to do my homework first. There were video clips and plenty of comments (good and not so good). My red flags were raised enough to decide to forgo riding and audit first.
Even the auditing started with a hitch, no pun intended: I managed to get stuck in the hosting farms driveway (umh, and yes, I drove the four-wheel drive Chevy). There was no parking left and I thought, no problem, I just wedge myself at the edge of the snow bank, not knowing that there was a big drop. So, I had slink to the farm and ask for help. Luckily, I came across the nicest people ever. The owner got his big Diesel, hitched my truck to his and and pulled me out of my predicament. Thank you!
OK, now finally I could climb up the hayloft to audit the rides - and after a couple of minutes I breathed a big sigh of relief that I hadn't signed up. It was completely geared towards Young Riders - something I had aged out of too long ago to mention. Very small arena with four jumps that were set sort of like a cross. The riders had to remember the pattern, jump counting strides and hit the pre-set time accurately. If they missed: "Give me 100!" = Sit-ups, push-ups. I would have spend the afternoon doing just that!
As the French call it: échappé belle (narrow escape)!
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