Get Ready To Win

Winning doesn’t come easily. Use my advice to prepare yourself and your horse to win.

- Bob Avila

Everyone wants to win. You can want it all day long, but if you’re not preparing to win, wanting to win won’t do you a bit of good. When it comes to winning, nothing replaces hard work and solid preparation.

Here are five pieces of advice to help you and your horse be sure that, when you go compete, you’re ready to win.

Ride…a Lot

Non-pros who win a lot are non-pros who ride a lot. The more you ride, the better off you are. If your horse is in training, make time to go ride a few times a week. If you keep him at home, you’ll need to ride more often than that to keep him physically ready to compete and win.

I see the pitfalls of irregular saddle time at my barn regularly. A customer comes to ride for two to three weeks, and they start to make real progress. They achieve a goal at a show. Then they don’t come ride for another two weeks, and it takes them even longer to get back on track. It happens to me when I miss saddle time, and I’m used to riding horses every single day. If I go on vacation for 10 days, I come back rusty. I get back in the routine more quickly because I ride so many horses every day, but it still affects me. That’s tenfold for a non-pro rider who can only get in the saddle on one horse a few times a week. Nothing replaces riding.