1. Work with your horse within a commitment. It is the foundation you build your house on. ( My personal commitment “To put the well being, health, and happiness of the horse as the foundation of all I do.”)
2. Goals and Commitment are not the same thing. Goals are human things. Reaching for goals and dreams without commitment allows humans to be blind to abuse happening. Horses work from commitment.
3 . Things often do not move at the pace we think they ought to. The tiniest spec of movement in the direction we are seeking is a triumph to be celebrated.
4. Train only through positive reinforcement. The rewards are great.
5. Everything you do generates experience and growth. We cannot learn or grow as our horses want us to if we do not make those things we call “mistakes”.
6. You don't train to win, you train to create a bond with your horse so you can co-create together.
7. Do not compare yourself or your horse with any other. You are unique, they are unique. Embrace your uniqueness.
8. Do not let the horse world dictate anything to you or any trainer coerce you into doing anything that does not put your horse first. (If you lose friends over your commitment then they were not your friends in the first place.)
9. Do not compare your work to competitive standards. Competitive standards do not align with a horse's well being.
10. Listen to the horse. They are the wise ones.
11. NEVER let anyone abuse you or your horse. No matter how knowledgeable or famous you may think they are. Look only through the eyes of your commitment.
12. And “Please can I have more hay?” (request I hear most often)
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Lesson #10 : “Listen to the horse. They are the wise ones.”
Should be a mantra in the barn; repeated before, during and after working with your horse.
I could not agree with you more, Susan and Erica!
Great thoughts!