The Attitude is Justice - and The LBI "Cliff"
I had a very challenging session with my LBI mare last night. She pushed ALL my buttons and I had to fight and fight hard to not go all "Clinton Anderson-direct-line" on her.
It shows me just how much work I have to do on myself and how my emotional fitness is not where it needs to be.
My mare simply would not move. And if I did manage to get her to move, she exploded with huge and repeated caprioles in place with such height that I believe even Xenophon would have been impressed.
This morning I e-mailed these thoughts to someone who has been a life-line to me....she's rapidly becoming a major portion of the 7th key of success to me: SUPPORT. (Thank you, TK!)
It seems like if I write to her and also get on here, I can get a stream of consciousness kind of thing going and maybe get a little piece of wisdom to break loose from my very thick skull.
Ok, so I'm trying to think of all the ways I can progress in the areas I need to in order to be more EMOTIONALLY FIT when I come to work with my horses.
I am reading Pat's book again. I decided a key point I need to focus on is 'attitude is justice'.
"Your attitude toward your horse should be a just one. In other words, you should cause your ideas to be your horse's ideas, but understand what his ideas are first."
I don't know that I take the time to understand what his/her ideas are first. I mean it is pretty obvious, your idea is 'not to move'. But I wonder if I need to spend time standing there really SEEING it thru her eyes. I don't know.
Of course then we go into the make the undesirable thing uncomfortable and the desirable thing easy deal, which I did do last night. Dani has a difficult time cantering in our arena. I don't know if she just brings too much energy to it or is afraid she is going to slip on the sand, or what, but it's a big deal for her, so I figure, okay this is a good time for us to work on you being comfortable at the canter..plus, she needs to get fitter...so win-win.
I would canter her a few rounds and then let her rest at the little jump.
Pat says "cause" and "allow".....not "make" and "let".
I teetered dangerously close to "make" last night. I know I CAN make her. But it is ugly and I want the pretty.
He also says: "Some people by nature are makers". I think I go to that when I get frustrated. I also tend to be 'type A' and am used to just pushing thru until it gets done. Part of that is from my work history---and raised to push, push.
Pat says you need to be assertive, but says that is somewhere between being agressive and being a wimp.
He also says: "You have to be mentally, emotionally and physically fit so you can be just at all times.
You've got to have your act together.
You have to become collected in the human sense."
I think I ran into a bit of that last night.....running out of mental stamina, or emotional stamina, or maybe all three.
So I am looking for ways in my day-to-day to work on these things. For example, backing the tractor out of the barn today after doing morning chores. I'm always starving by then and maybe cold and I want to get in and get a cup of tea, etc...so I power the tractor up and go out fairly fast....I made myself go really slow out the barn.
I tend to walk fast....my husband is always yelling at me to slow down. It is torture for me to walk with him from the house to the barn (approx. 125 feet) as I simply canNOT walk that slow. So now I am practicing going slow. Oh, it kills!
Even this morning, doing horse chores, running to do laundry and some cleaning and hurry, hurry up so I can get out to the barn....made myself fold slower.
I am thinking if I ONLY work on these things when I present myself to the horse, it is not going to be enough. ....or at the very least, this is a way I can get there more efficiently.
This is kicking my a**.
But getting my attitude correct, understand justice as it applies to horses and to myself is key for my development as a horseman. If I expect my horse to be emotionally fit, I must get there first!
Falling off the LBI cliff and climbing back up again only to fall again is the type of exercise that will get me there quickly.
Sometimes you have to hit the bottom to know which way is up.
Sue, cliff-dwelling, in Ohio
It shows me just how much work I have to do on myself and how my emotional fitness is not where it needs to be.
My mare simply would not move. And if I did manage to get her to move, she exploded with huge and repeated caprioles in place with such height that I believe even Xenophon would have been impressed.
This morning I e-mailed these thoughts to someone who has been a life-line to me....she's rapidly becoming a major portion of the 7th key of success to me: SUPPORT. (Thank you, TK!)
It seems like if I write to her and also get on here, I can get a stream of consciousness kind of thing going and maybe get a little piece of wisdom to break loose from my very thick skull.
Ok, so I'm trying to think of all the ways I can progress in the areas I need to in order to be more EMOTIONALLY FIT when I come to work with my horses.
I am reading Pat's book again. I decided a key point I need to focus on is 'attitude is justice'.
"Your attitude toward your horse should be a just one. In other words, you should cause your ideas to be your horse's ideas, but understand what his ideas are first."
I don't know that I take the time to understand what his/her ideas are first. I mean it is pretty obvious, your idea is 'not to move'. But I wonder if I need to spend time standing there really SEEING it thru her eyes. I don't know.
Of course then we go into the make the undesirable thing uncomfortable and the desirable thing easy deal, which I did do last night. Dani has a difficult time cantering in our arena. I don't know if she just brings too much energy to it or is afraid she is going to slip on the sand, or what, but it's a big deal for her, so I figure, okay this is a good time for us to work on you being comfortable at the canter..plus, she needs to get fitter...so win-win.
I would canter her a few rounds and then let her rest at the little jump.
Pat says "cause" and "allow".....not "make" and "let".
I teetered dangerously close to "make" last night. I know I CAN make her. But it is ugly and I want the pretty.
He also says: "Some people by nature are makers". I think I go to that when I get frustrated. I also tend to be 'type A' and am used to just pushing thru until it gets done. Part of that is from my work history---and raised to push, push.
Pat says you need to be assertive, but says that is somewhere between being agressive and being a wimp.
He also says: "You have to be mentally, emotionally and physically fit so you can be just at all times.
You've got to have your act together.
You have to become collected in the human sense."
I think I ran into a bit of that last night.....running out of mental stamina, or emotional stamina, or maybe all three.
So I am looking for ways in my day-to-day to work on these things. For example, backing the tractor out of the barn today after doing morning chores. I'm always starving by then and maybe cold and I want to get in and get a cup of tea, etc...so I power the tractor up and go out fairly fast....I made myself go really slow out the barn.
I tend to walk fast....my husband is always yelling at me to slow down. It is torture for me to walk with him from the house to the barn (approx. 125 feet) as I simply canNOT walk that slow. So now I am practicing going slow. Oh, it kills!
Even this morning, doing horse chores, running to do laundry and some cleaning and hurry, hurry up so I can get out to the barn....made myself fold slower.
I am thinking if I ONLY work on these things when I present myself to the horse, it is not going to be enough. ....or at the very least, this is a way I can get there more efficiently.
This is kicking my a**.
But getting my attitude correct, understand justice as it applies to horses and to myself is key for my development as a horseman. If I expect my horse to be emotionally fit, I must get there first!
Falling off the LBI cliff and climbing back up again only to fall again is the type of exercise that will get me there quickly.
Sometimes you have to hit the bottom to know which way is up.
Sue, cliff-dwelling, in Ohio
Comments
Post a Comment