Ep 131: Shifting Your Focus from the Future to the Present
“My horse should be further along–why aren’t they where [someone else’s horse] is?”
If this thought has ever entered your mind, you’re not alone. For whatever reason, whether it be escalating futurity incentives or simply our human desire for immediate gratification, the age factor is one that greatly affects our expectations for where our horses should be in their training journey.
The truth is, age is just a number–for both horses and humans. In order to provide your horse with the time and training that it needs, it is essential to let go of your need to compare yourself or your horse to someone else’s journey.
Now, with that said, this doesn’t mean that you can’t have goals to have your horse at a certain level by a certain age. What matters is how you maintain your expectations on the path to reaching this goal.
The training journey is rarely linear. As soon as you master one area, a new challenge will arise. That’s part of growth. Reaching new levels means that you will almost always be introduced to new challenges.
No matter what level you’ve reached, the learning never stops. If you want to continue progressing, you have to commit to continuously learning. Sometimes, one horse will require more repetitions than another. Each horse is an individual, and that means that they come with individualized tendencies, insecurities, and strengths.
Even if you have a 14 year old horse that someone else has been successful on, that doesn’t mean that horse will recognize your feel and have that same level of connection with you as it did with its previous owner. In order to help your horse continuously learn and understand, your feel has to become familiar to that horse.
Feel isn’t created on the ground or in the barn doing chores. Feel is created through time spent with your backside in the saddle. This time doesn’t necessarily have to involve intense aerobic movements. The purpose of this time is to enjoy your horse.
Learn to enjoy the tendencies that make that animal unique. Learn what makes that animal respond positively, as well as negatively. Learn the signals that the horse recognizes. Learn to be aware of what your horse needs from you today–not what you think they should need from you today. Worry less about the future and where your horses need to be, and focus more on what they need from you in this moment.
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