Creativity & Horse Training

My biggest break-throughs in my horse training journey began after I realized that horse training is an artform. I had to stop trying to do it perfectly & instead start experimenting. Once I did that, almost magically, my horse training skills improved in leaps & bounds!

I had a coach from my younger years who was pretty harsh & prone to ridicule her students if we weren't able to understand her instructions or clearly implement them. She took a sick pleasure in making her student's cry. Although she could never make me cry, I began to be afraid to make mistakes for fear of doing it wrong & of wrecking my horse. But, let's be real... That's not realistic & it's not how the process of training horses works. Instead we must decide to look at mistakes as opportunities to learn. When things don't go exactly as planned, it gives us feed-back if we're willing to examine the process & the results. From that, we gain more information for how to re-formulate a plan for moving forward to hone our skills and achieve our goals. Mistakes are all part of the process of getting good at anything. Embrace them, because likely if we aren't making mistakes at least some of the time, we are probably stuck in a holding pattern and not making progress. So go ahead & set yourself free to experiment as you work with your horse! And remember, if it's not fun, then what's the point?!? Your horse will love you for trying new things too, so it's a win/win.