My 15 Minutes Is Up

I remembered something Sue Smith said when I was at her clinic a couple years ago and I think it's a good thing to keep in a person's mind. She said, she gives herself or any of her traveling partners 15 minutes to either be pissed off and have a fit after a bad run or 15 minutes after a good/winning run to be excited, swagger or brag. After that 15 minutes is up...It's time to start thinking about the next run. You either have to concentrate on fixing what went wrong or concentrate on what went right and try to replicate it.

My 15 minutes of ecstasy is up and it's time to concentrate on the next run. For once, my goal is to simply recreate everything that made Moon's Ridgway run so fantastic.

BTW...I guess my post was a bit confusing on that. Moon made his awesome run at the Sunday's performance (The 'That One Extra Stride?' post) and then I just had to wait until Monday's performance was over to see if he held the lead or not. We didn't have to run again. No one in Monday's performance even came close. So not only did Moon and I win the rodeo by a full 3 tenths of a second, one of my besties placed 2nd with her run time of 18.11. She's another gal that has worked her butt off to get things figured out with her talented mare, so I am very happy for her.

I keep this little book in my trailer and I write down mental notes of things that work and things that really don't work. If I am feeling confused or unsure...I take a moment to read through those notes as a way to help me get my focus back. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. It's all about whether I let my mind relax enough to simply DO what I need to do.

There is now a big note with stars all around it that says...'Finish your first turn'. and another one right below that that says, 'Think slow, react fast!!!'.

One of EW's biggest sayings is, 'It's easy to get to the top, it's harder to stay there.'Yea, I believe that one too. Getting to the top is about always thinking of ways to fix problems or improve a little at a time. Being at the top means you simply have to do what you have already done...over and over and over.

After taking a day to get everyone out to the desert for some open country miles...It was right back to the practice pen for Moon and I. The NBHA State Finals is coming up this weekend and I want to have the same feeling for this race as I did for last one. This time I will have to put two runs together...One on Saturday and on on Sunday.

One thing I do not have to wonder about anymore is if Moon can blow the doors off...Now I KNOW he can...my only thought is to make that happen...again and again and again.

However, as much as I talk about Moon...this coming weekend is really about Spooks. I would really like to be able to make the big guy the 2012 State 4D Champion. That is my ultimate goal for him. Spooks is a pretty easy horse to ride, but I did find out in Utah that he is not unflappable. So I will have to ride him intelligently and maintain the same form that I normally do. After that, it's just letting the chips fall where they will and hopefully he comes out on top (of his division).