Be the Perfect Horseman

Sometimes it’s a struggle with a horse.  Every now and then I just don’t have ‘it’, ‘it’ doesn’t come together and the plan for the moment gets waylaid.

It would be so easy, in these sorts of situations, to blame the horse for not getting it.  But the reality is that the only thing the horse is getting is confusion from me.  If he doesn’t understand me then it’s not his fault.  This truth smacks me in the face like a cold herring on a frosty morning, and that is not that a pleasant experience.  The flip side of this realization is that if I want my horse to be perfect then I must be perfect - in whatever way it takes.  This concept was happily revisited with my mare Katie in the round yard this afternoon.  I took my time, I warmed her up with some circle games and I established our connection.  She and I were on the same page – and that was nice.  I even checked the gullet in her saddle and realized that I could go wider by one.  We had a near perfect twenty minutes of easing through some basic stuff.  But it was nice!  Very nice!

I try to be perfect – which has little to do with being a perfectionist -with my horses but every now and then I feel I am not.  When I am close to that zenith, the magic is so thick you could carve it.  When I am not perfect or not in a space of harmony and peace, I have discovered that it’s best if I leave my horses alone.  That way we don’t corrupt or diminish too much the nice moments and experiences we do have.

A budding horse person I know got me thinking about this concept of being perfect with and for your horse.  She has two horses.  One is a flighty, petite mare and the other is a rather large, laid back Appy gelding.  I think the mare was the first horse and then the big boy came along to much hurrah and fanfare.  Two more different horses on the same patch of grass you couldn’t imagine.  Add to the mix small barbed wire paddocks, a not yet competent (NYC) horseperson, a lot of confusion on all parties behalf, a serious injury to the mare (barbed wire and horse is a great mix for veterinarians), lack of consistency and now even I’m confused.  And to top all this off, picking up and picking out the hooves on these two horses is generally a ‘no go’ zone for this person.  Hmmmmmm!