Episode 349: What Critical Mass Really Looks Like in Riding

Episode 349_ What Critical Mass Looks Like in Riding.mp3: Audio automatically transcribed by Sonix

Episode 349_ What Critical Mass Looks Like in Riding.mp3: this mp3 audio file was automatically transcribed by Sonix with the best speech-to-text algorithms. This transcript may contain errors.

Speaker1:
What stands out to me is that what was hard for them a few months ago is now something they do as a warm up. And that’s when you know you’ve made real progress. Here’s how you can create that same kind of momentum in your own writing.

Speaker2:
Podcasting from a little cabin on a hill. This is the Stacy Westfall podcast. Stacy’s goal is simple to teach you to understand why horses do what they do, as well as the action steps for creating clear, confident communication with your horses.

Speaker1:
Hi, I’m Stacey Westfall and I’m here to help you understand, enjoy and successfully train your own horses. The topic on my mind this week is the idea of reaching critical mass. So of course I had to google the phrase. And here is the question and answer that Google gave me. What does it mean when something has reached critical mass. The answer? Critical mass is the minimum amount of something required to start or maintain any project or venture. Example. In order for a new ice cream store to succeed, the need for it must reach critical mass. The reason critical mass is on my mind is because I have recently been watching many of my students experience a version of this critical mass, and I’ve made some really interesting observations about it. First of all, the students I’m talking about right now are in my Advanced at Home program, which is one on one coaching. And even though they’re not together, they’re all about three months into coaching with me. For some, this is their first round, meaning the first time that they’ve been coached one on one and they’re about three months in for others. They are also about three months into this year’s coaching, but they may be returning students, Meaning they’ve participated in prior years. So as I say that, I realize it might sound like it took one person several years to reach critical mass, and then someone else may have reached critical mass in three months. But that’s not what I’m saying.

Speaker1:
What I’m saying is, around this time period, it’s common for me to see all of the students reach a version of this critical mass. They’ve all had other breakthroughs along the way. But somewhere around this time frame, I noticed they all hit a new gear. And that’s what I’m calling critical Mass. The ones that have coached with me year after year have actually had this experience repeatedly, meaning they’ve hit critical mass in one area or at another level, and now they’re hitting it again in another area or at another level. The one thing that is very clear to me is that there’s something about the weekly repeated exposure to coaching that’s causing this. I have a bunch of my own theories. I think I’m keeping them focused. I think they feel accountable and that I give them homework. They do the homework, they get guidance. They get feedback. They get instructions on where to go next. But technically, what I want you to hear me say is I’m doing all of that in week one and week two and week seven and week eight. But around now, it really all comes together in some kind of a different tipping point. One way that you could define a tipping point is when your effort and your belief and your consistency creates some kind of a shift, and then momentum takes over. So for many of the students, something that might have felt slow or uncertain, a new technique, these all start to combine and once they reach this critical mass, things start to feel like they’re rolling all in the same direction.

Speaker1:
Another thing I really notice around this time frame is that they can process information a lot faster. And that means the amount of information they’re able to take in in the moment is double, triple, quadruple. They can literally hear and understand and take in a lot more information than they could in the initial calls. When I think about it, I think it’s because of a developed language between us. So when I say a certain phrase or I explain something again for the fifth or sixth or 10th time, which is 100% a reality when you’re learning to have something repeated that shared develop language, as well as their increased language and communication with their horse as well as just flat experience of repetitions. I think all of that combines together to help them reach this critical mass of absorbing information. Also, keep in mind they get recordings of the calls where I’ve been coaching them, and that means that they go back and they rewatch and then they gain even more. So it’s almost like a version of reaching a critical mass in information processing. And I’m sure that if you think back, you’ve probably had that experience before. Whether that was something that you did in school or something you did in work, or maybe when you were learning to drive a car. So what I see is that they start connecting ideas, and they start seeing the connection between technique A and technique B, and then how it applies to what they’re working on over here in a different situation.

Speaker1:
One of the most interesting things about them. Processing noticeably faster at this stage is that they often will say verbally to me something about realizing they’re not taking it all in. And that really fascinates me, because it’s sort of like a contradiction of speed. Here’s how I want you to think about it. When I remember back to learning to drive a car, I remember the first time I got behind the wheel and started driving at 35 miles an hour. It felt like everything was happening really fast. Technically, everything was happening at 35 miles an hour, but my mind was working overtime. So now when I hear students say something like, I got a lot out of that, and I know there’s so much more, so I’m going to go back and watch the recording. I often point out to them. You are actually receiving so much more right now. You’re tracking along and following. You’re connecting the dots. You’re explaining it back to me. You are literally processing so much more right now in the moment. And yes, it’s still true that if you go back and rewatch this call, you’re going to get more. But what I really encourage them to do at this point is to go back and watch the first call recording with me, because if they go back and they watch how they were processing information a few months ago and compare it to now, that’s when they’re really going to see the change that I can visibly see from where I’m sitting.

Speaker1:
What stands out to me is that what was hard for them a few months ago is now something they do as a warm up, and that’s when you know you’ve made real progress. Here’s how you can create that same kind of momentum in your own riding. First, pick a track and commit to it. Work on it weekly. Even if the steps feel small or you’re unsure. Record yourself working with your horse and watch the video. It can be five minutes each week. Just do it. Find a coach and study them weekly. Study them every single week, even if that means that you’re watching videos on their YouTube channel. Jumping around is okay, but follow one program week after week because that will give you a different type of result than jumping around. After a few months, remember to go back and watch one of your videos from months ago and look for the changes that have happened that you can celebrate. These are the steps you can take to reach critical mass, and for you to realize that you have reached a new level of critical mass. After everything I just shared about critical Mass. I now want to replay episode 273, which was titled from I Don’t See It to. I see it breaking down the barrier between seeing and understanding.

Speaker1:
When I’m coaching students, I often say, this just happened. We can’t fix everything today, but let’s remember that it happened in the beginning. When I say this, it’s hard for somebody to hear me point out something that didn’t work and also say, we’re not going to address it, but it’s a huge piece of the process. It’s how we can stay on track, simply identifying something but still staying on the planned track unless that something is a safety issue. So as you’re listening to this replay, think about why I would point out to a student, this just happened, but we can’t fix everything today. Let’s just remember that it happened and see if you can hear how that fits into step two of the three steps I’m about to outline. In this episode, I want to continue what I started talking about in episode 272, where I outlined five steps that riders use to improve. In that episode, I talked about why so many riders get stuck on step one. In today’s podcast, I want to look a little closer at step three. But first, here’s a quick review of the five steps that all riders use to improve. These can happen when a rider is watching their own video. They can happen when you watch a video of your ride with a coach. They can happen when you take a lesson and you get yelled at for looking down because you have that desire to see which is step one.

Speaker1:
These can happen when you ride in an arena with mirrors and they can happen when you watch someone else ride. They create a cycle. Here they are, number one. Your ability to see. Number two. Your ability to identify what’s happening. Number three your ability to conceptually understand. Number four your ability to predict based on your understanding. And number five, your ability to execute. Let’s just focus on the first three. See. Identify. Conceptually. Understand. Let me make this really easy for you to have. Stick in your mind. Imagine that you introduce a friend to horses and they’ve never seen a person riding a horse before. So when they see a person riding a horse, they look and they see a human on top of a horse at this level of what I’m calling seeing, they’re not going any deeper. They’re not identifying one of the next levels of identification that a person often learns is they learn to see a human on top of a horse, and then they learn to identify what type of saddle the horse is being ridden with. Sometimes that’s as basic as it has a horn or it doesn’t have a horn. Are you starting to understand what I’m doing here? So the more that person learns, they’ll be able to see more. So then they would be able to identify. Yes, there’s a rider on a horse using a saddle and they’re using a fill in the blank. Maybe they just see it as an English or a Western saddle, but someone with a lot of experience could look at that same exact horse and rider and identify a lot more.

Speaker1:
They might be able to identify the type of western saddle. Maybe they would say that’s a roping saddle. Maybe they would say that’s a dressage saddle. So the more understanding the person has, the more they see, the more they identify. And so the first three steps see identify conceptually understand are what I want to talk about today. Now you may have noticed that I said I wanted to talk about step three. And if you’re keeping track, you may have also noticed that I skipped step two. I did that for a reason. Because many times riders want to skip step two. They want to go from see to conceptually understand. Identifying seems boring, like naming the parts of the saddle. It seems a little boring if you sit down and learn it at a four hour meeting, and I can see why it’s tempting or maybe even necessary to jump to step three, I actually think it could be useful. And I see writers at different stages that tend to do this. And here’s why. Often times when a rider sees another rider riding and they overhear the lesson being taught, they may hear a phrase like shoulder in. And when the writer who’s watching hears that phrase, it’s intriguing. What is it? Why is it? How is it? And what they’re doing there is they’re reaching for step three.

Speaker1:
They’re reaching for the conceptual understanding. But in order for them to succeed, Seed, they will have to find a foothold in the concept by identifying what’s happening for them. To learn what shouldering is, they’re going to have to start thinking what is the horse doing? What is the rider doing? What direction is the horse traveling? What direction is the horse looking shoulder in? What the heck does that mean in relative to what the search? The desire for the conceptual understanding, if used well, will cause the rider to identify at minimum, anything they notice that’s different. So maybe they’ve seen other riders going around and around. And this is the first rider they’ve heard coached on shoulder in. And then they look and they’re like I don’t know what it is. But I notice that’s different. That’s all you need. But here’s the challenge. Especially because less experienced riders are even more prone to skipping. Step two. The identifying and they want to go straight from seeing to conceptual understanding, because the less experienced rider tends to want to do that. They often can’t see the conceptual understanding stage, and because they can’t see the full on version of shoulder in, they decide they can’t see it. Nope, I don’t see it. Here’s a side note. More experienced riders don’t skip step two. This is what they’re looking for when they watch each other ride. They’re identifying, identifying, identifying the building blocks they’re watching, where the horse is bent, where the horse is moving.

Speaker1:
Even if they don’t know why the rider is doing it. They’ve trained their eyes to look for identification. It’s literally like learning to collect puzzle pieces. You can start moving them around and putting all the ones that have a lot of orange in one corner, and all the ones that have a lot of brown in another corner, and all the ones that have a lot of green in another corner. Literally just identifying without knowing where it’s going is step two. But if you start saying things are currently beyond your understanding and you mean it, pause right here. That’s going to impact you. Now hold on. Sharp right turn coming. For illustration purposes, how much do you know about colors? I’m talking about yellow, red, orange, blue, green colors. Like a box of crayons. Colors. How much do you know about colors? Have you ever had this experience? Have you ever been talking with someone and made a comment about a color, only to have the other person observe or correct you and say, well, it’s not really blank, it’s blank. Or have you ever disagreed on a color? Our current truck is red, but our last truck we owned was a nightmare. Was it gray? Was it blue? Was it blue? Gray? The DMV was not entertained by me having this struggle, by the way. And it gets worse. Here’s another crazy idea about colors. We humans don’t even know if the color that I see and call dark green is the same thing that you see, even if we’re looking at the same exact thing.

Speaker1:
We can both learn to call it dark green, but we don’t actually know if we are seeing exactly the same shade. It’s a crazy thought. You can Google it. I’m not making this up. So to clarify this, we humans have assigned numbers to our colors. I have an orange color that you might have seen on my website. The colors on my website all came from a piece of jewelry that I liked that had southwest colors in it. And so one of these colors is rust orange, but rust orange is Pantone 152 or CMYK0, slash 69, slash 100 slash six or r g b 28, slash 107, slash 31 or hashtag E 46 B140. Maybe I should have warned you just because we agree that a color should be a number. To clarify what shade or exact color we’re talking about, we really need four or maybe two different sets of numbers. You decide, because here are the definitions of what I just explained. Rgb is an additive color model primarily used for digital formats. Cm y X is a subtractive model mainly used in print materials. Pantone provides a standardized system for color identification and matching. Pantone shades can be converted to RGB or cm y x. Okay. Gentle curve. Back to the horses. So when a rider says that is currently beyond my understanding, they block the process of identifying. And here’s what I think.

Speaker1:
I think in that moment you have three choices. Choice number one is to reach for relief. It can actually feel like a relief. And if you want to take a break from trying to figure out what something complicated is, you could say something similar to that’s currently beyond my understanding, but maybe consider something not quite as closed. Try a phrase like I’m still working on seeing that one, and this will leave your brain a little more open to the idea that maybe soon you’ll be ready. Your second choice is to stretch a little. This will move you into identifying, and a lot of times you’ll succeed. And it might sound something like this I heard you say shoulder in and I noticed, and this is where you would insert something that you noticed about the horse’s body. Or you could say, I think I understand this one part, but I’m pretty sure I don’t understand the full picture yet. Or if you’re in a situation where it’s appropriate, you could just directly ask, what am I looking for when I’m watching somebody do shoulder in? Can you hear how you asking the question, what am I looking for that actually invites the other person to do the work of identifying parts? Now, I said you had three options. Here’s option three. You can go off the deep end. This is another way that advanced riders sometimes accidentally intimidate those who are learning. Or sometimes an article does it, or sometimes those who are learning can take themselves off the deep end.

Speaker1:
I’m going to give you an example. I just did this in a recent video review, Inside the Resourceful Rider program, and I very intentionally explained what I was going to do, what I was explaining, why I was going into detail, what I’m calling a deep dive, and the possible problems in ways that people could use it against themselves. So in the video review, what I was doing was I pointed out that as this student was doing a very foundational exercise, they were also practicing elements of shoulder in. Keep in mind. This writer has never shown or trained in dressage, and the technique that she was using is one that you can use in the first 30 days of riding shoulder, and doesn’t happen until you start moving up the levels. It’s not one of the base things, but I could pause the video and show exactly the things that I wanted everyone to see that make up the elements of shoulder in. But here’s the problem. As soon as I name it shoulder in, there’s a temptation to do a deep dive. And on that deep dive, you will learn that shoulder an has more descriptors than rust. Orange. Pantone 152 zero 69 100 slash six RGB 28 107 slash 31 and then you’ll wonder if you can even correctly identify the color orange. Take a deep breath. Sometimes you’re doing just fine. If you can identify yellow. Red.

Speaker1:
Green, blue. Look to the basics of whatever you’re learning. Think to yourself, does this mean move more forward? More to the left? More to the right is the essence of what they’re saying. Slower or faster or more? Bend or less bend. Don’t drown in the deep end. One of my strengths is being able to explain the same concept from multiple angles. That’s why when you listen to this podcast, you have breakthroughs. Because I say something from a slightly different angle over and over and over again. I love deep dives, but I also appreciate the simplicity of can You See the shoulder is a little further right there compared to the hip? I promise. If you allow yourself to look and identify just one element, it will be plenty that one will build into another. On that same call where I was pausing the riders video and explaining it in detail. Other students on the call were typing in and they were saying, I see it. I’ve done that. This is so cool! I promise you can do it too. And remember, if you like my teaching here on the podcast, it’s even better inside the Resourceful Rider program where I use videos, pictures, and lots of other visuals in my teaching. Be sure you go to my website and put your name on the waitlist so you can learn more about the program and be notified the next time it opens. Thanks for listening and I’ll talk to you again in the next episode.

Speaker2:
If you enjoy listening to Stacy’s podcast, please visit Stacy westfall.com for articles, videos and tips to help you and your horse succeed.

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