cheap thrills

a burden: there’s a bucket of reasons why you should not feel like one. perhaps you’re overthinking, worried, or feeling down. but don’t ever feel like you’re being such a burden. you are part of the population. you are important. without you, this world would lose the opportunity to be changed in your own simple ways. you are necessary. you are loved and it’s okay to be your own priority.

a disappointment: you’re not! i’m proud of wherever you are right now. im proud of your progress; no matter how enormous or minute it might be. if you failed your test, it’s okay. if you didn’t win the competition, it’s alright. im pretty sure you did your best and it’s that part that will always matter. don’t let other people’s “what a shame” bring you down. YOU. ARE. NOT. A. SHAME. you are blooming in your own simple ways. and I am proud and happy for you. continue growing, aspiring, believing in yourself. i’m proud of you.

a weirdo: most definitely never a weirdo! if you like doing things that are quite different, that does not make you a weirdo. that makes you special and even more precious. it was such a perfect combination of atoms and dna that led to a beautiful creature that is you and oh dear god, you’re amazing. your way of thinking is creative and the way you do things is totally out of this world. you are beyond the things earthly. you are meant for greater things. and you are most definitely not a weirdo.

ugly: whoever said you were, should most definitely need to get their eyes checked. when was the last time they went to the eye doctor anyway? if there’s anything that i’d like to be, it is to be as beautiful and as bright as you, a total human version of sunshine. your eyes light up like a ray of sunlight, your lips are perfectly carved like cherries, and your noise is huge or small and it’s cute. most definitely cute like a button. and the world should be in awe every time you wake up.

not good enough: you are good enough. you should feel good enough. if somebody’s making you feel like you’re not, then that only means he does not deserve you, the brightest star light in the universe. you deserve to feel loved. your strength and your smiles make this world a better place. you are good enough: always have been, forever will be.

alone: i’m here for you, your dogs are there for you. your cats are waiting for you. your pets will always be at your back, giving sweet and soft head bumps to make you feel loved. your music playlist is there for you to blast when you’re feeling a tinsy bit down. you are never ever alone. we’re constantly caring, loving, and waiting for you. please stop frowning and crying, you are loved.

stupid: you are, as a matter of fact, really really intelligent and even smart! perhaps you’re having difficulty in understanding your math or chemistry lessons, but that’s part of the process! at least you’re learning. i’m pretty sure some people will not be able to understand it just like you. but that doesn’t equal to being stupid. you’re just learning. continue to crave for knowledge and continue to make your curiosity work. you are not stupid.

RIO EVENTING DRESSAGE - Lets straighten a few things out

There have been a few posts asking the same question pop up since the commencement of the dressage phase of eventing:

“These horses are skinny” “They’ll malnourished” “Bad dressage” “This horse doesn’t look like a dressage horse” and so on..

First of all, these horses aren’t specific bred for a sole discipline. They’re multi-disciplinary horses. They’ve been bred to be a finer build, to allow for a lighter weight frame thus making galloping and jumping easier, and in some cases, making the individual horse more athletic. Big, thick, heavily built horses can’t maintain up to 10 minutes of galloping and 30-something jump efforts, then back it up with show jumping the following day. Sure, there are exceptions, but not at this level. Another thing to consider is some horses have undesirable conformation which perhaps makes the horse look worse. There are some seriously tall riders out there too.

Secondly, the requirement of these horses is to be incredibly fit. Have you ever seen a human tri-athlete with a spare ounce of fat on their bodies? It’s just not possible. With the amount of exercise and fitness training they do, it’s pretty much physically impossible.

Thirdly, in regards to people saying that these horses and riders aren’t doing good enough dressage tests… sorry we eventers have TWO other phases to perfect, as well as maintain an extremely high level of fitness in our horses (and one would do well to remember that you’re at home on the couch, not representing your country ;) ). Because we still have two phases left to complete, our dressage requirement aren’t as demanding as a pure dressage test will be.