In this episode of Hitting Your Stride, Tracey Mitchell learns from Yvonne Losos de Muñiz about earned knowledge and the many forms it comes to us all in. Yvonne, a dressage rider originally from Nigeria but who now represents the Dominican Republic, has been adding to her knowledge base for the better part of 20 years and a lot of that has been learning on the go.
Yvonne’s best advice is to be honest, humble and patient, and ask for help when it is required.
Some of the key principles that she shares with Tracey and the audience include ‘less is more’, ‘there is no timeline’, and ‘don’t chase your scores’. As the podcast unfolds, those lessons become apparent as Yvonne shares how they came to her and how it takes a heaping dose of honesty with yourself in some cases for the lesson to sink in. She talks about what it was like to learn about a horse’s limits and its performance ceiling and how that helped transform her as a rider, and how that realization helped to open a lot of doors mentally for her.
As with many equestrian athletes, Yvonne has had to learn about the balance of putting in the work and making sure she put in time for herself and life outside of the ring. That helped turn the conversation to what it was like for her (and what it’s still like) riding for the Dominican Republic – a country that didn’t have a reputation for producing great dressage riders. Calling it an ‘exciting and amazing journey’, Yvonne talks about her growth, the horses that have helped propel her, and the joy she gleans from teaching young riders.
Going through various aspects of her career, Tracey finds out that Yvonne’s best advice is to be honest, humble and patient, and to ask for help when it is required.
Yvonne Losos de Muñiz can be found on social media on Instagram and Facebook @yvonnedressage.
You can listen to the podcast here:
