Staying on the Horse
A lesson for life.
Recently, I was away staying on a guest ranch in the US with my husband.
We went there for the riding and other activities, I love horses. I rode for a few years as a child and then didn’t ride for 40 years. I came back to it about 10 years ago.
I have never owned my own horse, although this has been a lifetime goal; when I ride, I like a sensible horse, I’m looking for consistency and reliability.
The horses on the ranch are looked after by wranglers, most of the wranglers have been around horses their whole life; they are good riders and know the horses inside out.
One day we were out on the trail, the wrangler was training a young horse to lead the group. The horse was clearly excited and became more so, she didn’t want to go on the trail and was backing up, taking a few steps forward, then back again, then spinning right and left.
What followed was a great display of riding, staying on the horse. The wrangler sat solid, there was no fear, no anger, no frustration.
We sat watching as he continued to encourage her forward on to the trail and she continued backing up and spinning; many riders would have been unseated by the pace and direction changes.
Clearly, the wrangler is an accomplished horseman with a great seat and balance and many hours in the saddle; he knew what he was doing.
One of my fellow riders commented that if he had been holding a cup of tea, not a drop would have been spilt. It seemed to me that his strength was in more than physical riding ability.
He had unfaltering self belief, a quiet confidence, that he would stay on and would ride forward. What we saw that day was the product of years of daily practice of tiny steps which came together giving him the inner strength to keep going and trust himself. His mindset was as powerful, if not more so, than his physical ability to ride.
I drew parallels with dog training; it’s inevitable that some days training will go brilliantly well and we’ll be on cloud nine, other days, things will go less well and some days, we may wish we hadn’t bothered. These are the days when we need to keep our head in the game and trust ourselves to keep going. It is the tiny daily steps which come together to help us achieve our dog training goals and these same steps that help us grow the inner strength and resilience of the wrangler.
Having the support of a trainer can really help in this journey. A trainer can help you identify suitable goals, map out a training plan, point out successes when you can’t see them, and be your cheer leader.
If you have a dog training struggle, get in touch to arrange a free discovery call and find out how I can help.