(“Doing myself some good—“)

Denny Emerson knows what it is to work for a goal. He is the only rider to have ever won both a gold medal in eventing and a Tevis buckle in endurance. And in 2000, the Chronicle of the Horse called him “one of the 50 most influential horsemen of the Twentieth Century …” Denny, a prolific writer, recently posted this:

The Insidious Nature of Losing Fitness

We (those of us older than, say, 25-30) are all too familiar with the way, as Springsteen says that

“Time slips away

and leaves you with nothing mister but

boring stories of glory days”

As the years and decades slip away, it gets harder and harder to stay as fit and athletic as we were in high school, when fitness “just happened.” Clothes that used to fit don’t fit, things that were easy become hard, and the problem is that most people don’t fight back.

One hot July day, I saw Walt Gervais in the hayloft at Tamarack hoisting hay bales into the bucket of the tractor. Walt was late 70s, still competing at preliminary, and still fitter than most of the kids.

I said something like, “A little hot for that, Walt.”

He said, “You know, I don’t LIKE this. I don’t ENJOY this, but I know I’m doing myself some good.”

“Doing myself some good—” That way of looking at it is totally different from what most people think when they feel the stress and discomfort of physical exertion. Most think, “This hurts. I better slow down”. Walt thought, “This hurts. I’m doing myself some good.”

Walt fought back. Anybody CAN. But it’s a war zone that most people shy from—-

This article especially caught my eye because Susan Anderson and I started teaching Walt to ride in late 1973. He was 53 years old when he appeared at our humble little riding club with a quarter horse, Twister Tom, that he’d bought for his daughter who’d gone off and found herself boys instead. Walt figured somebody needed to ride him and he was the likely candidate. From there he graduated to a big grey English TB named Sterling, and when Walt retired, he went on to his dream job in Vermont and a late blooming career working for Denny. Walt was an amazing man with more motivation and chutzpah than ten other guys put together. Back in the day he also kept us—a bunch of semi-impoverished rider wannabes—nourished with the cafeteria fare he scrounged for us from the office building which he maintained in Providence. When he was recognized with the USEA’s “Keep on Truckin” award, we were all proud and gratified.

This isn’t a “No pain, No gain” scolding, not in my mind anyway. But it is a very clear example that what you get out of something IS directly related to what you put in. Life gets in the way of our ambitions and our avocations. That can’t be helped. If you can’t ride during the week because it’s dark both before and after work, of course it puts a crimp in your plans and progress. Same for family responsibilities. If your situation conspires against you, you may have to adjust your expectations.

On the other hand, if you’re Jay Cutler or RG III not putting in the hours required to learn the playbook (which is like not knowing where your 20 meter circle crosses the centerline) don’t look for much sympathy! Do all you can. Do what you can. Don’t shortchange yourself. If you give it the best shot you can, whatever the result, you’re good in my book.