So... Are You Horseman Material????
STOP THE DING-DANG PRESSES: Donna and Smokie won their division at  the AZ Horse Council's Trail Obstacle Challenge this last Saturday!! HUGE KUDOS! If there's one person who has struggled and persevered while listening to my corrections and being intimately familiar with my line, "and I mean that in a nice way" it's Donna. And Smokie - What a guy! Regardless of where you are in your horsemanship journey, if you're not struggling and learning and keeping' on, you probably aren't really on a horsemanship journey. Maybe you just get on.
While watching a webinar presenter in the health field recently he said, alright really he yelled to the audience: "The number 1 thing you need to do is - STOP BEING STUPID!" Now, I don't have the nerve to say that (no really! I don't. Maybe/sometimes I think it.:D), but he's right. Doesn't make you an ax murderer, but THINK about your horsemanship. I ask myself frequently, "What's really going on here? Have I gotten on a thinking path that is no longer relevant?" Weigh whether you're really getting the results. Many times comfort, even mistaken comfort, like it's really not comfortable, but you're used to it, causes/allows less than good horsemanship.
"Comfort, that stealthy thing that enters the house a guest, and then becomes a host, then a master. And then it becomes a tamer, and with a hook and whip it makes puppets of your larger desires." Kahlil Gibran I get emails like this frequently: I've had my horse for years and he's normally a challenge, but today out on trail, bucked me off, kicked at me and ran off. I told him this was unacceptable. I took him back in the arena and ran him around.
Hmmm... really? You think that's what your horse thinks you're thinking? That what he did out there was unacceptable? It doesn't even look that way to me, I'm dang sure it doesn't look that way to your horse. And...
Normally? For years? Bucks you off? Kicks at you? Runs off? And you were yelling "This is unacceptable!!!!" as his tail was flying down the path? So, you're comfortable with that? Yet, what's being done to change this normal behavior? Nothing (or more aptly, nothing the horse considers something) or it wouldn't be normal. Saying it's normal is acceptance.
Think!
"To be conscious that you are ignorant of the facts is a great step to knowledge." -- Benjamin Disraeli, British prime minister "Thought is the original source of all wealth, all success, all material gain, all great discoveries and inventions, and of all achievement." Claude M. Bristol, Author "Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason so few engage in it." Henry Ford WooHoo - Look at all those thinkin'quotes!! "If you work hard enough, that 'thinker' will kick in directly." - Royce McLaury Now that you're all thinking... you have to DO. But, it's important to think first so you DO the right thing. Devise a NEW and DIFFERENT plan that changes how you deal with these issues so you can figure out the best way to NOT have them happen. That's where I come in with help. It's interesting to watch someone think they're thinking, and they are, but they're not thinking on the right road and you can't get where you're going on the wrong road. Look at what your horse is telling you. TAKE that advice and devise a different plan.
The great oil billionaire, H. L. Hunt, was once asked the "secret of success." He replied that success requires two things, and two things only. First, he said, you must know exactly what it is you want. Most people never make this decision. Second, he said, you must determine the price that you will have to pay to achieve it, and then get busy paying that price.
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There's a difference between techniques and technique.
For exceptional results, think "how and how can I".
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without needing to relate it to anything in particular. This is kif to me and out of it comes much of my best understanding. I observe and let thoughts drift through my