Give Her Enough Rope to Hang Herself

Strategy:

Give her enough rope to hang herself.

I used to ride in games and endurance races. Some people are always better than you and some are always worse. Some people think they’re better than you when they never will be; facts don’t seem to persuade the truth.

Someone in the group always made it personal between herself and me. She was sure if she just had a better horse she would beat me.

The day came when she did get a better horse, a sweet, fast, well-trained Arabian that could haul ass around the barrels. A better horse can make you a better rider, but a not-as-good-rider can ruin good training.

I noticed if the horse had enough room she tended not to spin on her hind end, but run wide to gain the footing on the turn – it can cost up to a second in a race that normally lasts 10 to 15 seconds at the most, for the good riders.

So we’re lined up in our Saturday games, she is ahead of us, my foster daughter and me, my competitor; she is so proud of this new gamer, she is so excited.

She got to the starting gate; I told my daughter to step our horses back a pace or two - give her plenty of room.

Sure enough, that pony took it wide, took all the rope we gave her, and came in later than usual.

My competitor never figured it out.