The One Big Lesson

One glittering magical moment, one unspoken concept, one undercover trick and it might just all fall into place. We know that’s not true no matter how much we itch for it. We are tempted to flit from one trainer to the next, one shiny clinician to another quietly hoping they’ll share the secret we crave. Resistant to the idea that it’s just a dogged daily habit of correct riding and training.  If there’s no one big trick maybe it’s also true there’s no one big life lesson. In this podcast age you’ll hear interviewers ask, what big thing did you learn from that special horse and  certainly we all listen ears open to see what they reveal, myself included. I think maybe what we should be listening for is not a life transforming hack but something else. We should be looking for little forward steps. 

Too often relying solely on the idea that we’ve been giving the gift of a horse to improve us or bring us respite. Yes they are a gift and a privilege but your horse is not your therapist, they’re not equipped for that sort of madness. More like your horse is your daily reminder to put one foot in front of the other and forgive yourself when it’s difficult. 

The learned skill of staying the course. An ability to be brave and stay true to principles in the face of peers, current social media and indeed just life. A slow release medication more than a weekend retreat revelation. The gift of knowing in the most uncomfortable moments it’s okay to keep plodding along despite an inviting easy way out. The one big lesson is actually millions of little moments, all kindly offered by our horses if we can take the time to notice. Training ourselves to see and listen reminds me of a wonderful phrase, “you miss more by not looking than not knowing.” Horses are expensive, life is often complicated so not everyone can be top of their game riding wise all the time but we must absolutely remember to look, notice and be courageous enough to ask for help if we don’t know what’s next. 

The one big lesson learned from each horse is one small step, one small step forward and not sideways away from difficult or repeating the same steps unwittingly. Every new horse, actually every horse on a new day should be better than the last, better than yesterday and often only because today we noticed, perhaps not yet improved but we noticed the mistakes.