Every ride I try to ride my best. I don't always achieve this, and it is hard not to beat myself up when I am just not feeling strong or sharp or what ever it is that I feel I am lacking. Because it is not just for me. I have an obligation, a responsibility to Kip. Sure, I train Kip so I will have a great partner to help me live out my dream of Eventing, but more importantly, I train him to give him the very best chance he can have in this world. A smart, willing, trained horse will pretty much always be able to find a home, no matter what happens to me. So every ride I try to build my skill level, because Kip sure as heck is building his -- He is better every single ride. It is really amazing. In my lesson last night, I was expressing my frustration with myself for not always supporting him with my leg to get that nice, bouncy canter to the fence. I guess I was being kind of hard on myself, because my trainer said that I had done an extremely good job with Kip, that I had not taken one misstep in his training, and that his amazing progress was because I was a good rider. I almost burst into tears.