In our society's growing need to get everything done in a timely manner we have lost a valuable tool. That tool is patience.
This occurred to me several years ago when I felt (at the request of owners) the need to get tasks accomplished quickly with horses. All this did was put pressure on getting the end result and time became my enemy, and the horse, the victim.
It was at this moment of awareness that I vowed to always place the horse’s well being ahead of anyone’s personal goals. Suddenly training became quality conversations with horses instead of a time frame. After all, we send our children to school and allow them a whole year in one level before sending them forward and we don’t send them forward unless they are ready. Plus we recognize that everyone learns at different speeds, so why then do we insist all horses learn things in such a short time span and on a clock? We do it all the time, by negotiating with trainers to accomplish tasks in under 30 days or asking the question, “Can you fix it quickly?” or “How long will it take?”
Getting things done quickly is a poor measure of how “well” they got done. We see this measure particularly in the trailer loading of many horses. How is it that so many horses are trailered on a regular basis yet a huge majority cannot walk on willingly? Evidence that we didn’t take the time that was necessary to help these horses understand the task and be comfortable with it. The mere fact that horses also have so called behavioural problems is another measure that human’s have not taken the time necessary for that particular horse to understand.
Our goal should be how “well” we accomplish communication and tasks set forth, not how “fast” we can do them. This does not mean we need to take forever either. For I know that when people become great teachers for their horses, their horses become astute students and quick learners. This has been proven time and time again. (Pun intended!)
Knowing that horse’s live in the “Now”, or in the “Present” moment is a powerful notion to utilize. We can learn a great deal from this message alone.
So throw away your watches and instead take notice of every little effort ypur horse makes. You will be amazed at how time becomes of no consequence while your training unfolds at incredible speeds. The responsibility lies upon us to become great patient teachers.
I remind myself of my own school experiences where the teachers I learned best from were kind, respectful and patient. The teachers who were overloading me with too much information, homework and expectations were always harder to learn from and I dreaded going to their class!
Follow your intuition and your horse’s heart.
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