Thursday, Jul. 17, 2025

What We Can Learn When Things Don`t Go Right

In my last column (Sept. 12, p. 8) I talked very directly about the narrow difference between losing and winning, and I really experienced both of those emotions at the Fair Hill CCI*** (Nov. 7, p. 61). I was leading the Pan American Championships when I fell with my CCI horse.

Well, as I write this, I`m sitting here looking at a broken ankle, a broken wrist and some seriously angry cartilage along my sternum. Coughing is definitely not an option!

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In my last column (Sept. 12, p. 8) I talked very directly about the narrow difference between losing and winning, and I really experienced both of those emotions at the Fair Hill CCI*** (Nov. 7, p. 61). I was leading the Pan American Championships when I fell with my CCI horse.

Well, as I write this, I`m sitting here looking at a broken ankle, a broken wrist and some seriously angry cartilage along my sternum. Coughing is definitely not an option!

These injuries have brought back many memories of other times when things weren`t going so well (there have been many), and they`ve caused me to remember that it`s the losses and down times when one learns the most. I`ve preached this to my students for a long time, but, I`ll tell you, it feels more poignant now.

Bruce Davidson called me up the other day to wish me well, and we talked about the seemingly dark cloud that`s loomed over me this year. And he made a great comment: “David, there have been a lot of very sunny times for you.”

Perspective is a great thing. Just a little over a year ago, Bruce had broken many more bones than I have and was taking an unwelcome hiatus from riding. But he came back to place eighth at Rolex Kentucky in April, just like he`s always come back. His brilliant riding in times like that proves to all of us his depth of character and the true champion material that is inherent in him. There are few people like him.

The down times we go through make us introspective; winning does not. Winning produces a euphoria that no one can take away, a euphoria that can be called from the reservoirs of our subconscious at any time.

But winning doesn`t force you to deal with your weaknesses; it allows you to glide over them like a stream over a jagged stone.

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The desire to win drives us to be excellent at what we do. Losses and mistakes fuel the fire that melts weaknesses down into a simple form that can be molded into the tools to get the job done.

I`ve been through times like this before, so the issues that seem to be limiting my performance on the playing field do not overawe me. I`m almost upbeat by the process that I know I am going to have to go through when my bones mend. I know that I`ll be a better horseman because my injuries have forced me to take time to think about my mistakes in training and competing.

And I know that I`ll be a much better coach, better able to explain to students the steps that they`re going through when they`re struggling. Yes, in the end I`ll be better because of this forced time out.

Still, everyone loves a winner. I know, because the outpouring of feeling from fans around the world has often overwhelmed Karen and me.

I admit that I`m a very competitive person, and I love to win. Competition should drive you to be better and drive you to improve your skills. But it`s the losing times that make you strive for those extra skills that you`re missing, if you`re a competitive person.

And I don`t mean that everyone has to win in order to feel good about themselves. Far from it.

Competition is about a pursuit of excellence`nothing more or nothing less. It`s the struggle to achieve excellence that makes us the people we are, at any level of competition or in our careers, with horses or not.

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You never know when these down times are going to show up either. Sometimes it seems as if you can make any stupid mistake or almost try to fall off, and you still finish first. How many times have we all seen pictures of riders barely hanging on but winning the competition?

But then you have days when your horse sees a squirrel jump up 50 feet away, and suddenly you`re standing by yourself in the middle of a field, watching your horse “save” himself from the terrible monsters that lurk in squirrel bodies.

I can recall many times that I`ve galloped away from a fence thanking God that he saved me. Many times I`ve wondered what happened and never figured out what mistake I made. Sometimes you just never know.

So when you`re going through a rough patch and feel that the goals that you`ve set for yourself are far out of reach, remember that realistic goals really aren`t that far away. The plans we make always seem to be more thorough and truer to the issue when we make them in the down times of our riding. A coordinated plan to deal with your weaknesses always makes you a better horseman and, therefore, a better competitor.

Jack Le Goff told me one time, “Keep your eyes way out into the future, and you will get there.”

That phrase has worked for me in the past, and I know it can work for anyone who forces themselves to look far down the road.

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