Spirit-to-Spirit Horsemanship

The publication "Eclectic Horseman" has a video gazette they publish quarterly that usually includes 'a wreck story' at the end. It's one of my favorite parts --- it features a seasoned horseman sharing one of their experiences where maybe they didn't make the right choice or respond in the best way to circumstances presented to them. It is in the spirit of the Gazette that I offer this tale of woe. Maybe someone else can learn from my stupidity. In May of 2011, I had been working with a trainer for about two months, enlisting his help to get a horse going under saddle and continue the work with one I had previously started. I was very excited to finally get some help as I had been working for years as my own teacher, critiquer, advisor, cheer-leader and student, all at the same time. A serious case of 'hero-worship' was well on its way to forming. Said trainer had the great idea that we should go down to the hills in southern Ohio and have a long...

I was looking up some info on Kathleen Lindley (see www.kathleenlindley.com for articles, clinic info and more) and ran across a news story write-up about a clinic Kathleen had done where she had quoted Voltaire. This quote resonates with me on so many levels it felt like a jolt when I first read it.  "In his writings, the wise Italian says that the best is the enemy of the good". It is commonly quoted as "the perfect is the enemy of the good". So a person can have adequate competency and yet be stuck in the extremism of perfectionism.  One can effectively ignore one's own progress (and that of his/her horse's) because of this vision of perfect.  We can miss the try, miss the improvement, miss it all. Consider along with this concept, the levels of learning:   unconscious incompetency  (you don't know how to do it and probably don't know you don't know)   conscious incompetency (you know you don't know but are learning) ...