Permission to keep it simple

When I’m working with a client there are certainly times where I feel like I need to achieve a lot or do all the ‘things’ so it’s interesting and engaging for the client, but oftentimes we end up needing to strip it back and work on a simple fundamental that may have lost its quality. For example, picking up the horse’s feet in a calm, cooperative and easy manner.

When we begin as a horse owners we need to learn a vast array of “basics”, such as

How to catch a horse,

How to brush a horse,

How to lead a horse,

And so on, but for some reason in the horse world, we tend to think once we have the basics down pat we no longer need to work on them or refine and practise them. Yet if we think of other sports such as soccer or even ballet, every training session will work on the basics, on the beginning, to ensure those fundamental skills are always there and always improving.

I find in the horse world we are very much end goal oriented, we want all the things, all the fancy stuff to happen and to happen now. We forget that the foundations, the simple, maybe boring foundations are what will get us there. And if you don’t spend the time on ensuring you can lead your horse, brush your horse, do the mundane tasks with calmness, connection, rhythm, then we compromise our ability to successfully reach that end goal and maintain its quality.

So I’m giving us all permission to keep it simple, do the basics and try to explore them further. If you think they are ‘boring’, you may find a little hiccup in the process that you could improve and who knows, maybe if you work on that little thing, something else further down the track will suddenly become easier.

So what are you going to work on? For me I need to work on some leading with Bandit, who likes to walk ahead of me, which I don’t normally mind but now he actually won’t stop to wait up for me, so I’ll be going back to some leading with him to regain more connection and rhythm together.