quietann

OK, everything is horse-related, because that's one part of my life that Does Not Suck right now. Work sucks. Relationship(s) sucked, briefly, and are now in a holding pattern until work does not suck anymore.

So, more on horses. Joc says that she suspects the group lessons at Windrush Farm are a good thing, and I agree. First, not having the instructor focused on me all the time gives me a chance to work things out for myself. Second, and perhaps more importantly, being the probably-best rider in the group helps my confidence. I had the choice of this group or another one, which is more advanced and meets way too early in the morning. In a lesson where everyone was ahead of me, I'd probably get frustrated while struggling to keep up. In the group I'm in, I feel good for being the "leader" so to speak.

It reminds me of a story my mother told me from her teaching days. She taught first and second grade, back in the day when first graders were not expected to arrive on the first day of class knowing how to read. (Some did, but they were considered exceptional.) As was the practice at the time, she divided her classes into three groups for reading, based on skill. And she would shift the kids around in the first couple of weeks until she had everyone in a situation that worked for them. In her typical first-second grade combination, she'd have a group of "confident" second grade readers, with a few very advanced first graders. And then she'd have a group that was made up of slower second graders and quicker first graders. And then there'd be a group for the real beginners, almost all first graders along with a few kids, usually boys, from the second grade, who just had not been ready to learn to read as first graders.

So she had this one 1st-grade boy, and started him in the top group. But he was having a lot of trouble, and being disruptive, even though on a pure skills basis he was able to read at a second-grade level. She moved him down a level, and got a call from the boy's mother, who was very upset about this "failure." But my mom had figured out that this boy needed to be the "best" at something; he needed confidence. And she explained it to the mom, and the boy did fine, and many years later he ended up graduating from one of the better engineering colleges in the country. My mom would chat with his mom occasionally, since they lived in the same neighborhood, and the boy's mom always thanked her for resisting the mom's urge to "push" her son.

So this is me as a rider, and it's working, and I'm happy. Yes, theoretically I know how to do everything my lesson group is doing already, but more practice never hurts. And I can work at refining my riding at this very basic level that will allow me to advance with sureness when the time comes.