Wisdom - Bonus

I had a really tough ride on a young horse yesterday. Nothing went correctly. She was emotional. My timing seemed off. I probably didn’t pause enough. She tested her boundaries with her “no’s”. I had to hold some lines in the sand. I had to ride corrections. We are transitioning into more challenging work.

I fretted about it all night. Was she painful? Did I miss something? I should have released sooner, paused longer, quit sooner. I knew today I would pay for my mistakes and she probably hated me. I was mad at myself and frustrated with why she was so resistant to things she knows.

So today I dusted myself off determined not to repeat yesterday. She ran to me in the pasture. Not away. To me. She wasn’t upset. She didn’t stew about it all night like I did. She had a good ride. Only tested her “no” once and didn’t get emotional about my response. I didn’t get on her upset about yesterday. I got on her determined to meet her where she was and have a good ride.

Today was better. Riding young horses is not fun everyday. They make mistakes. We make mistakes. If we keep a good attitude and make corrections without being angry, usually we come out okay on the other side. One bad ride doesn’t make us bad riders or the horses bad horses. If get stuck in the drama and we don’t change our perspective we can become bad riders making bad horses in a hurry.

Keep showing up and taking small steps. Keep learning. What is hard today will be a memory in a few months if we keep putting one persistently patient foot in front of the other. Slow progress is still forward progress.