The Power of Repetition

Every time you repeat something, you are at the beginning stage of establishing a habit. This is true whether you are an advanced rider or just starting out. Each time you get on your horse, you are presented with the opportunity to identify your good habits and bad habits. Your bad habits are your weaknesses. A weakness is something that has been developed over time, whether we taught it that way or whether we have allowed the same mistake to happen repeatedly. Although many of us understand the importance of repetitions, I think we tend to underestimate the power that lies behind correct repetitions. Correct repetitions are an essential part of building a foundation for long-term success. Once we have achieved an end goal with our horses, we have a tendency to quit doing the things that got us there. At the end of the day, your horse is not a programmed computer. Even horses that perform at a very high level a high percentage of the time require repetition of fundamentals to continually improve their performance. When faced with a goal, we often think of time as our enemy. But when it comes to repetition, time is our ally. One of our biggest downfalls in the performance horse industry is our obsession with short term goals. We’re all focused on short-term satisfaction. But, when we break long-term goals in to short-term repetitions, that is when we achieve power over our performance. I have a personal goal to do 50 sit-ups and 50 push-ups five days each week. Honestly, I hate taking the time to work out. But, this routine takes me less than five minutes to complete, so I have made a habit of it. While my 50 reps may not seem like much, this adds up to 13,000 sit-ups and 13,000 push-ups each year. Just think if you apply the same concept to your training—if you can make a habit of dedicating a small amount of time toward performing correct repetitions with your horse, your results a year from now will be astounding. The power of repetition makes something that appears overwhelming look very achievable. The moment when it finally starts to click and you begin to see those small repetitions pay off is incredibly rewarding. When you reach that point of success, figure out the thing(s) that got you to that point. Then, make a commitment to keep doing those things, or you won’t stay there for long. One of my favorite quotes is “win the day.” This is a simple reminder to do the small steps that will propel me toward my end goal. When we break big goals down into manageable repetitions, the road to success becomes a little shorter each day.