There’s a story I’m reminded of just about every day. It’s one that comes to mind when I’m pushing myself and my horses to be the absolute best that we can. Back around when ranch horse versatility events were getting popular I started exercising my competition skills. I’d take clients horses and often win first, second, and third place with their different horses. It got me some recognition from some publications, and one of my clients took notice, too. He started bragging about me, boosting my ego and getting my hat a little too tight, and asked if I could get him to see 1% improvement a day with one of his horses. I said yes sir, of course I can do that. Well, he went on to tell me that he’d bring me the horse 100 days before a competition to get them ready. Of course, I immediately realized it was going to get that horse more than 100 days to be show ready, and so did he. It was a humbling lesson in the way we progress both through our horsemanship and humanship, and it’s one I’d like to share with you today.

Key Take Aways

Don’t think about the clock so much. We often put time limits on things that don’t necessarily need them. Now don’t get me wrong, setting goals and deadlines for yourself and horse can be a good thing. They can make you work harder and more readily to achieve those milestones. However, realize that reality doesn’t always line up with our expectations.

Keep in mind that change comes about slowly in many cases. Sometimes it comes so slowly we don’t even see it happening. It builds and builds until suddenly our horse does something really well and we get to sit back and think, wow, how did we get here?

Another quote I like to throw around is that the minute you start working with a horse be looking for a place to quit. Have a clear goal in mind for your training session and understand what you are trying to teach them. Be aware, and once your horse has your lesson down then stop. Let one step be enough instead of pushing your horse too far.

Not to contradict myself, but sometimes pushing your horse too far can be a good learning experience as well. You can’t find out how far you can take your horse until you’ve gone a little too far and have to work to rebuild some of the confidence lost in the process.

Horsemanship teaches us to be patient. This can be hard when training for a competition and want to get everything done in one session or weekend. But you have to be happy with improvement as it comes, step by step. It means you’re going further than you have before.

Celebrating the journey is critical because we don’t hit life changing milestones every day. Real change happens between the big noticeable transformations. Some of those moments will be more memorable than others, but all of them add up to make growth in your journey possible.