Chapter 4: Welcoming 2024

The new year calls for reflection.

And while 2023 was a rocky journey- beginning with 2 of my highest scores and several medals, and ending in some challenging lows, it’s safe to say there I have learnt some indispensable lessons that I thought I would share with you guys, so that we could, collectively thrive as equestrians in the upcoming year.

Lifestyle Matters: Often, you've heard the phrase, "Equestrian is not just a sport; it's a lifestyle. And while I’ve always thought of it as a cool way of explaining to people how all-consuming and addicting this sport is; there is a deeper truth to this phrase. Because equestrian isn’t a lifestyle, it’s your lifestyle that is equestrian. Your lifestyle will determine your performance, your progress, your fulfilment in this sport. Habits like going to the gym regularly, following a structured sleep schedule, eating food that is fulfilling and maintaining balance all plays a pivotal role in the journey. In fact, and as someone who very recently started going the gym, I can already observe the noticeable impact it has had on my mood and strength which is thus being reflected in my riding.

You have to Beat Luck: The sport, especially in disciplines like dressage, invites great subjectivity. As a result of which, some days will favour you and some won’t. But if you rely solely on your luck and lucky charms to win and blame the luck of others while losing, followed by a hundred excuses such as lack of resources, training and practice; you will make no progress. Instead, you have to go out of your way to ensure that even when the biases, the subjectivity, and the luck may not be on your side, your hard work always will be. Ultimately you have to work until you’re invincible to such minute problems and excuses. This is definitely something that I want to implement in my riding in 2024.

Atomic Habits Indeed: One of the biggest mistakes I made this year was letting my perfectionist tendencies take over me. I would constantly focus on the final goal: getting the horse perfectly round, perfectly forward horse with the perfect rhythm, perfect impulsion, and perfect straightness. And while it is important to strive for perfection, this mindset cannot take over you to an extent that your results reflect the opposite of your goals. My perfectionist mindset, for instance, would constantly focus on having the horse go perfectly every day, and I would beat myself up over the smallest mistakes. Ultimately, I stopped making progress in my riding, because instead of focusing on rectifying the small errors, I consistently focused on a bigger goal that was impossible to achieve without first addressing the smaller issues.

Image: There's always room for improvement. Don't let 5 bad minutes define the rest of your ride.

And so, if there’s anything that I have learnt in 2023: it’s not only practice that makes perfect, but it’s also progress that makes perfect. And therefore, my biggest goal for this year, is taking one, tiny step every single day to improve my riding, which I trust will eventually reflect in my performance in the bigger picture.

So today I encourage you to sit down for 5 minutes, and like me, reflect on all of your learnings from the past year, map out some goals, and make 2024 count.

Until the next chapter,

Suhana