Atitude Check I
THE CONFESSION OF A CHRONIC CRIER By Samantha Burns
have just come out of the ring after a flawless, enchanting
performance, and I am crying. My trainer pats my leg and tells me to go for a walk and come back when I am “ready” and done crying. Yesterday I exited the ring after possibly the most awful, calamity round of my life and I was crying then too. My trainer patted my leg and told me to go for a walk and meet him at the barn when I was “ready”. Smart trainer! And I am smart enough to follow those direc-
tions. Crying is something I simply cannot stop once it starts and most
of the time I am not even sure what kicks it off, all I know is I just start crying. Sometimes it is for good reasons and sometimes it is not, I only know the tears can go on for many minutes or only a few seconds. I would love to blame it on the horse showing sport, or the pres-
sure of competing but I would be less than honest in trying to lay my emotional crying outbursts there. Some people would like to say I am a “poor sport” but that is simply not true. The funniest crying moment of my riding so far was centered
around my trainer and my humor in seeing a grown woman com- pletely helpless and speechless. I started riding later in life, and had not been riding very long when my failure to grasp the concept of diagonals seemed like an impossible task to me, I simply could not grasp it. The trainer stood in the middle of a small ring, patiently ex-
plained posting on a diagonal, what was wanted of me and sent me to the rail to trot. As I trotted gallantly around she said “Are you right or wrong?” and I answered “Yes”. “NO NO,” she said, “I need you to tell me if you are right or wrong!” to which I again answered “Yes”.
“You are not listening
to me or grasping this, AGAIN-are you right or wrong?” “Yes” again was my reply. At this point her frustration with me was mak- ing me nervous even though I knew this simple task was not one I was victorious over and I had no idea how to make her happy, so I cried. Raising her voice a little, the next question had a brisk tone,
“I need you to look at the horses shoulder and tell me right now, ARE YOU RIGHT OR ARE YOU WRONG?” “YES!” I TEAR- FULLY responded. “YES, WHAT!!!!!!?” she shouted. Quite flustered at this point
I suddenly knew what she was looking for and I started crying harder and said loudly “YES, MAM!!” The shocked look on her face was priceless as she stopped me,
took me off the horse and put her arm around me, and I noticed she was crying too. Neither of us had understood what the other was thinking! That was the first time in my life I realized tears can be a good
thing, so now I just give in and let the tears flow. Sometimes that is the best and only thing to do!
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