FREE TO A GOOD HOME
The true story of the youngest winner of the Tevis Cup race. An S2C formatted lesson. And some thoughts on enjoying the journey to fluency.
A horse wearing hoof boots while riding in the Tevis Cup found here
In S2C, we talk about stamina and flow. The fluid motion between letters. Look, poke, look, poke, look, poke. Stamina. The ability to spell letter by letter, words and sentences for as long as desired without prematurely fatiguing mentally or physically.
The dance of coordination needed to pair the ocular motor (movement of the eyes) with a gross motor movement (poking) consistently all while pulling cognitive content out of the brain is incredibly challenging and takes hours and hours and hours of practice.
The movements needed are so precise. One goal of the practitioner and/or CRP is to ensure that the practice put in is done in the best possible way to build the skills of not just accuracy, but also stamina and flow.
Practice makes permanent is a phrase we’ve probably all heard in the S2C world. This is why we disrupt loops that are not helpful, fully utilize the questions within lessons as well as the hierarchy of the boards in order to systematically, and yet with freedom, build skills one on top of the other, one after the other, keeping the end goal in mind, but never rushing the process. We practice well.
I really liked the advice that Lori Stewart gives to newer riders of the Tevis Cup Trail. She is a woman who rode the whole Pony Express Trail (2,000 miles) and then “played” on the Tevis Cup Trail. Her advice is that if you can play, have fun, and enjoy the trail - you’ll be much more likely to reach your goal and less intimidated by the process.
Our community has enough stress. We are here to lift the burden and enjoy each session FULLY without the weight of expectation but always with our goals in mind. Flexible and malleable, yet continuing to work within best practice knowing that we can trust the process to take us where we want to go.
But, I am not only building skills, but I am also a regulation partner. This is another reason we work within lessons. Interesting content is regulating. The skill of pulling cognitive answers is a skill that will benefit in every area of life, forever. In all these areas, I must strive to work ethically. Among other things, this means never asking my client to take on things they don’t want to. Things they didn’t intend to.