Everyone likes winning. I know I do..  but recently, I had to explain to a young rider the difference between winning on merit and winning by default.

Winning by merit means you win something because you genuinely deserved to win. You worked hard and put in an excellent performance, which put you ahead of your other competitors. You achieved your performance goals.

There will be times when you do all the above, and still do not win. However, if your performance goals (eg, jumping a clear round, beating my previous score in the dressage) are achieved, then you have had a win already! Outcome goals which are wanting to win the class or wanting to beat so and so are less meaningful.

However, when you win something despite your bad performance, and because your competitor just did it worse than you, that’s winning by default.

For example, almost falling off and accumulating 20 faults due to bad riding in your jump off round but still winning the class because your only other competitor was eliminated.

For example, you are playing badminton with Lee Chong Wei and he sprains his ankle and has to retire.. that is winning by default.

Do not get me wrong.. we all are prone to making mistakes and we (rider and horse) can have off days. Sometimes a good dose of luck is needed! There have been times I have won something and thought “geez that could have been done so much better”.

However, there is not too much to be proud about when you win something, after performing horrendously.

The goal should be to win by merit, not by default.