Tag: fears

It’s a learning experience

I am always trying to encourage the (horse) riders that I coach and get them to achieve more; achieve things that they thought were beyond them. That is just a part of it. The most important thing is that they actually ENJOY it.

Well, canoeing is a test for me. I have been riding and around horses all my life so I’ve fallen off and done my bit to fill medical records in X-ray and A&E for as long as I can remember. Falling off is all a part of being around horses and is mitigated by getting that thrill when it all goes well and we fly over an oxer or gallop across country.

Water is another matter….. I’m not sure why it makes me so fearful, but it does. I can swim (moderately well), I have endless diving qualifications and have dived deep, dived on mixed gas and dived in murky caves. But waves? In a canoe? ……..

Anyway, if you’ve seen my past posts, you’ll know that I am gently trying new things and after a fabulous trip to the Tarn Gorges (a story for another day) I have come back inspired and keen to get a bit more ‘splish splash splosh’ in our open canoe. I should say here, that I am in the front of said craft and my husband (who is really a water baby as well as an experienced canoeist) is in the rear doing the steering. (And shouting /encouraging/ coaching/ laughing).

To keep the spirit going, we went to Symonds Yat today. It was a fair class 2 (unlike the last trips which were more hairy!!), and a great chance to learn some of the technicalities in fair conditions. As we launched from the steps I could feel the butterflies and compared this to how my riders must feel when they are facing a bigger fence, new horse or other new challenge. It seems only fair that I test myself too.

Last time we were here we sided to a large rock on the left and I had my first ‘swim’. It was a turning point – we need to do this to know we are OK and can come back another time so it is an important experience.

So to skip to the end, I didn’t swim today (though we saw plenty of people who did!). but it left me wondering about our standard joke: if you don’t snowball when skiing then you aren’t trying; if you don’t take a fall and test the protection when climbing – are you really trying? Perhaps I should have done more, pushed the boundaries to the point where I tipped us in? I’m not sure. I enjoyed what we did, learned lots and probably stayed in the canoe where I wouldn’t have done before.

We did lots of ferry gliding, so I learned that (bizarrely) if you have the boat at the right angle you can go across the stream rather than just down; I learned that I can get the nose of the canoe right behind a rock and not get washed under. I found that I could paddle in stronger water. I found the difference in angle of the boat to the water that meant we reached out eddy – or not. I started to understand the ‘less is more’ idea (how often do I say this to my riders??)

We did ferry glides (half pass backwards), ‘S’ shapes where we let the nose of the canoe come round (a bit more scary where the waves were deeper), and crossed over ( a bit like two half circles with a change of bend over X)and the big half circles where we came out of an eddy into the stream and back to the same bank.

So, I’ve learned lots technically, I have learned plenty experientially and I have reflected further on how we can deal with things that make us anxious. When we ride, the challenge is that we are partnered with a living being that may have it’s own ideas. In the case of canoeing, it is nature. Pure and simple: we could go back to Symonds Yat tomorrow and the water would feel different.

So it was a great day, I’m feeling good and we’re off touring down the Wye tomorrow (I’m expecting calm water after Monnington Falls…..).