Point of Failure

This lesson is getting broken into two posts because it would be a mouthful to have in one.

If you're into weight lifting, you've probably heard of "training to failure." This is a method where you continue an exercise until you, quite literally, fail and your muscles give out. The idea is that you push yourself fully as far as you can go to ensure progress. It's a controversial method, to say the least.

Alternatively, many experts suggest training up to the point of failure but never actually reaching it. This is the philosophy that I was taught with weight lifting. If you're struggling through your ninth rep and have the potential to fail at ten, this theory says to stop at rep nine. You've still pushed as far as you can go, but you've completed everything. Personally, as someone who has awful recovery 99% of the time, hitting the point of failure ain't worth it. Additionally, the psychological benefit of quitting right before failure works well for me. Can't remember where I found it, but I did read from a trainer who employed this approach to learning sitting trot. You sit the trot until you can't, then post. The argument is that it helps build proper muscle memory so you never learn to compromise while struggling with the exercise. And circling back to weight lifting, there is an alternative method that encourages working beyond the point of failure by compromising form.

These are all just philosophies with trace amounts of research behind them, but in a sport where you have to preserve the animal beneath you and know when to quit, it's worth it to explore each of these methods with eyes on the ground.

After my last two lessons on Fuego, I had a feeling we were approaching failure. Whether it would be from my recent bouts with muscle fatigue, or him having mental difficulties, I felt we should both take a little break. I know that sometimes when I'm repeatedly riding a horse that doesn't settle, I become progressively more stiff and defensive in my riding. In short, I compromise form. That's not something I want for myself. I'm still building back muscle memory, and it's coming back more correct than it's been in the past two years. I was very happy with how I responded to him by the end of my last lesson, both physically and psychologically.

I asked Trainer T if I could ride Destello, and she gave a wholehearted yes. When we got out there for the lesson, she inquired why I wanted to switch it up that week. I explained the above (in less words), and threw it that it was probably good for me to ride another horse. I also felt that riding Destello would be a good test for where I was mentally about getting over larger fences (like, 2'-6") and getting through more complex courses.

It was like I was speaking Mandarin to her, haha. She interpreted that I felt the last ride was a failure, and assumed that I had asked to ride Destello out of fear. I was like, hell no, I love Fuego to bits. And I truly enjoy building positive experiences with him. He's a chilled carrot connoisseur at this point. We definitely were not seeing eye-to-eye on the point of failure thing, but she agreed that it would be nice to see how I did on Destello after a couple months apart.

I definitely am fully evolving into the adult amateur that thinks way too much about every little detail. But I'm also okay with that. I haven't really employed this approach with riding in the past, but most of that has to deal with the fact that I didn't have a say in who I was riding. Even at my last barn, I rode whoever was sound and not overworked. Additionally, it's been many many years since I was truly pushed towards a point of failure. This theory inherently implies that you're actually progressing and growing in a way that is challenging and builds on prior experiences. I think mentally IHSA pushed me, but the nature of riding at a massive school barn on horses that are ridden six days per week meant that the physical side of things was lacking.

To avoid confusion, I don't consider my last lesson to be a failure at all. Frustrating? Sure. Disheartening? Eh, maybe a little. A setback? Not at all. Scary? I trust that horse with my life. If he was genuinely going to be dangerous, he would have done it by now. Fuego is still my buddy. Last lesson was our ninth rep. We got through it, I didn't fail, and I'm ready for the next set.