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Brianna's Blog Post # 8
Writing, Riding, and Lunch
The first day of school, that particular day that a small, if not nonexistent percentage of people can forget. The day that most of us dread and or dreaded. Each year you walked into the school with two things on your mind. First, am I going to survive this another year and secondly and most importantly where, or really who am I sitting with at the lunch table. A certain fear may creep up on you if your friends can not be found and an absolutely necessary cause for panic is brought about with the mere thought of sitting alone.
No this doesn't really have anything to do with how you train your horse but its what I had to live through recently. Another first day down and countless other terrifying first days to come. As a junior in highschool I know the drill and it does not particularly bother me any more but I will not lie I’m still weird about the whole lunch thing :D
Anyways lets get to the horse part of this story. The first day of school is relatively easy. The teachers are passing out legal papers, no ones paying attention, and everyone is panicking about lunch. Fourth bell I walk in to English class slightly late because you can be late to class on the first three days of school. Everyone is assumedly lost so rules are a lost cause. I take a seat and start listening. Not a minute in and lo and behold the precious english teacher is speaking my own personal language...engagement. The presently depressed equestrian brain clicks on to interested and all I can picture is a stunning bay dressage horse, butt underneath of him, floating around the arena in perfect harmony. I dont know why it had to be bay but it was and I am positive it had white wraps on as well but whatever. Then she starts talking about being engaged in the story. This is The Great Gatsby story. Thats when writing became a whole lot like riding.
Engagement. We’ve all heard about it and we are all fully aware that it is harder to achieve with a horse than a man. We know it is something like getting the horse to push off the hind end and find balance and harmony and so on and so forth. This is basically what we strive for, besides just staying on. But I’m not thinking about that engagement or the one with the man. I'm thinking more like the riders engagement, mental that is. As my teacher went on to say, being engaged in the story is when you learn the most from it. You can not just skim over the pages and understand what the writer is trying to tell you. There’s gobs of details you're missing when you are just focusing on getting through the book. So your horse is the book and you are the reader. If you want to get to your horses engagement you're going to have to be engaged...period. Seek the details, what is your author trying to tell you. Is he or she unbalance and you need to do more half halts or more 10 meter circles? Or are you pulling when you should be releasing? Maybe you need to step up the game and ask for more. (Only if you're not reading a horror story. Otherwise refer back to 10 meter circles and praying :D) Stop looking for the end of the story, the grand finale, and start looking for the meaning in every sentence or paragraph...or stride.
Before the bell Mrs. English teacher finished with “every bit of the book is crafted.” She ever so enthusiastically explained that an author crafts (Hands enunciating every word) each and every detail. Crafts it to develope a meaning. So now you're the author and your horse is the reader. Craft every single movement and exercise so that he or she can understand it and want to seek every single detail and meaning that you have to offer. Make the book an interesting one. Make it enjoyable and informative. Most of all make it worth reading.
Then the bell rang and it was time to face lunch...
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