Posted by Russell Gibbons on 11th Oct 2016

With Huds and Toke – It’s ok to talk about falling!

We see so many awesome people doing awesome things on social media and in the other media, if there is such a thing anymore.

But we don’t often see the reality behind those one off great photos or video snippets!

It sometimes looks like there are those who walk among us who have been given the gift of never failing and never falling!!!!

………At least that is what people portray in social media.

It seems like the only time we see a failure is when it is in a compilation of funny videos which is actually making fun of those situations.

I think we shouldn’t be so focused on just the perfect shots…..I mean, they are definitely awesome to see as they do show how good we are…. And don’t get me wrong, this should definitely be applauded…..

But I think we should also applaud the falls! They are, after all, the real life behind the hero shots!

Take a look at this…… This is one of our Huds and Toke Sponsored Riders……..It’s a great shot of Katt Blakemore making a jump:

Looks like she was born to ride and is so comfortable…… she must have a gift??? Right?

It is a great photo and make no mistake, Katt is an awesome rider. But this photo doesn’t show the entire story……

There are 3 things happening here I believe:

Katt is spending a lot of time just building a relationship, or trust, ith her horse.
- There are many ways of doing this but it all comes back to treating your mate/horse with respect……so it can respect, or trust, you back.
- Many people, including Kat, use Horse Treats for this. It’s rewarding your horse and in turn showing him/her how much you care.

Katt needs to teach the horse what to do.
- This can only be done once there is a two way trust.
- Once again, using horse treats as a reward is a good way to show when the horse does something correctly which encourages them to do it again.
Katt actually has to do it herself. She needs to commit!
- She needs to show commitment, persistence, and determination with a lot of patience and a dash of courage thrown in as well.
- Once again, reward yourself when it comes together…..maybe not with a horse treat, but even a cool photo can do the trick!!!

Too often, the social media doesn’t show this story……Although she does make it look easy in the photo there is a whole lot more to it……………the story actually looks like this:

You see, it’s ok to fall. The hero shot above illustrates her achievement, her tenacity to keep trying, but it doesn’t show what she had to endure to achieve that shot.

This is reality, and I think we should be applauding reality more, so the kids out there stay motivated, and realise that to get the hero shots, there are some hardships along the way and Don’t give up just because the going gets tough!

Just my thoughts that’s all……..

I think it’s important to talk about the falling not just the Hero shots!!!!

By the way, Katt didn’t get hurt. And, she is a very skilled rider who works very hard as part of the Huds and Toke team not just at becoming a better horse women, but also at becoming a better person as a whole.

Check out Kat Blakemore on the social channels;

Intagram - @katt_blakemore;

FB – katt Blakemore

Check out our Horse Training Treats available at Huds and Toke as well……… It would be awesome if they become part of your story too!