What Can Your Horse Do For You?
Do you ever wonder what it is about horses that we love so much? Why are we willing to make physical, emotional, and financial sacrifices to keep horses in the forefront of our daily lives? What allure does the horse have that makes you willing to rise at daybreak seven days a week to feed him and brave the cold winter evenings to ride him? The activity of riding is understandably fun, good exercise, and exhilarating all at once. But I would like to address the understated reasons that horses are so beneficial to our growth and development both emotionally and spiritually.
If you visit a bookstore, you can find shelf after shelf of self-help books that are meant to help you become a better person. After reading one of these books, it occurred to me that having horses in my life has given me the opportunity to grow in all of the areas mentioned in the book. Here follows some character traits that we all would do well to improve upon and how the horse helps us to accomplish that in a way that is so understated, that many times we don’t even recognize him as our teacher:
PATIENCE- Being around horses requires infinite amounts of patience. It is like having a child that is perpetually 2 years old. He can never quite fend for himself, always depending on you for his every need. Trying to communicate effectively when neither of you speaks the same language is a challenge. You are accustomed to communicating verbally and he lives by watching the body language of his peers. It is nothing short of a miracle that he can learn to decipher the language of the legs and hands of the rider and translate that into a beautiful dressage movement.
HUMILITY– How many times have you heard there is nothing like a horse to make you humble? Just when you think you have mastered the half-halt, two strides later the horse acts like he has never heard it before. The horse reminds us that we are not always right and that there is no place for ego when it comes to being a good rider.? We must always remember that the horse has a choice of whether or not to cooperate and it shouldn’t be taken for granted that he puts his gentle spirit in our hands.
EMPATHY- the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines empathy as the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another. Many times it is difficult to remember that our agenda is not necessarily the same as our horse’s and no matter how much we try, the horse always pushes the pencil last. The great rider is able to avoid serving his own interest at the expense of the horse’s thoughts and feelings.
FORGIVENESS– when you are at odds with your horse over something, you must make a correction and move on instead of dwelling on the mistake.? If you had a rough ride the day before, you can’t bring a grudge to the next ride. If your horse doesn’t live up to your expectations at the show, you can be disappointed, but you have to be strong enough emotionally to move on and start the training again with a fresh positive attitude.
EXCELLENCE-The way you do anything is the way you do everything, and riding is no exception.? You have to discipline yourself to give 100% of your best effort each time you ride your horse. The success of your horse will be proportionately related to the amount of effort that you put into his training.
POSSIBILITIES– each time we ride our horse, we should imagine what all of the possibilities are for his success today and in the future. Thomas Edison once said If we did all the things we were capable of doing, we would astound ourselves.
Our horses are capable of teaching us these qualities without ever uttering a word.? How fortunate we are to be able to spend time with an animal that embodies all of these qualities with such dignity and grace.