Lessons - What you can learn

You can learn a lot from horseback riding lessons and the horses that have nothing to do with actual riding skills. Those lessons can be positive or negative...or it can depend on how you look at the item and your own personality as to the outlook on the lesson learned. Today was one of those days.

One of the horses got hurt yesterday. He is a very calm draft horse cross that we use for all the little kids as well as the older girls because he is so safe. He has never been hurt before and he was giving a lesson to a handicapped young man and was cantering and hurt his back and leg. Instead of acting foolish or hurting someone...he just refused to move when he got hurt. So today, I had to go get some more joint supplement for him as well as some bute (horse aspirin), and feed. I got to the barn early to help him out and he came right up ready to eat. Fed him and let him rest awhile for the meds to work....then I tried to ride him to see how he was feeling. He did the same thing - just stopped when he started hurting. You then learn that despite your size - 1200 lbs - and how much pain you are in you can still act civilized and you don't have to hurt people - even if you aren't very smart - ie...a "dumb horse". That raises the question then...why are people mean when they are not feeling well? They are suppose to be the smarter "animal" and should be able to process through things better. Yet this horse who turned out to be in a lot of pain rather than hurt a mentally handicapped child or even me when I asked for his compliance...just stopped and didn't move. No fight, no anger, not a mean bone at all. You can learn a lot from a horse I would guess.


One of our riding students got a horse for Christmas that doesn't like to load in the trailer so we have been working on getting him to eat in the trailer to be comfortable with it. While all the other horses were eating. I purposely went out 2 hrs before lessons so he and I could spend some quality time together. Since it was Sunday, his owner would be in church and wouldn't have time to keep up our routine of feeding. We started out with his owner in the trailer and me lifting his feet one by one into the trailer. As he would put his feet in, he would get some feed. (In other words...I was doing the work of picking up his feet and putting this 17 hand horse into the trailer) This worked fairly well and we got him into the trailer one time in probably 4 weeks. Yesterday and today I had no help at all. Just the horse and I so I put the bucket in the front of the trailer and I just held it there. If he wanted it, he had to come the whole way in to get it. You know what...he did in a manner of minutes. It taught me that the baby steps may have been good and the little rewards were ok. But if he wanted to truly eat his food, then I had to let him come the whole way in to get his whole bucket. I didn't have to pull, prod, lift, or even talk, just let him put his feet in and out as much as he wanted to until he was comfortable and would come on in. Maybe the same goes with all of life. Just lay what you need to in front of people and leave it there within their reach. Let them come in and out as much as they want until they are comfortable enough to come the whole way in and take what life has to offer. Then praise them for their winning effort. 

Then there is my husband's mare. She really is a great horse. She is very safe and was purchased because I know she will refuse to go anywhere he won't be safe. That is the real reason I bought her for him. Since he only rides 3-4 times a year, she has to be occupied with lessons the rest of her life. She safely does beginner rider lessons. I fuss at her constantly for slowing down and stopping as she trots and jumps. Most of the time she is just lazy - or so it appears to me. Today I watched her closely and learned that she is not as lazy as I thought she was. She was working with a young lady for the first time over some very small jumps and she kept stopping. I was fussing at both the young lady and the horse telling them to keep going..when I realized the young lady was just not steady on the horse. Every time the horse stopped it was because the young girl was not sturdy in her saddle. The horse could tell the minute balance of the girl that I could not see and slowed down to keep her from falling. Here again, the horse kept the rider safe. The kindness may seem "all in my head" to you, the reader, until you hear how my husband's horse treats me.....this same horse that slows down for this little girl and won't go places that might hurt my husband does not like me. Yes readers, when I saddle her, she will flatten her ears at me and try to bite me. IF I ride her she will buck and run in circles without being told. She will run straight into the wooden standards (what holds up the jump poles), she tries to brush me off on the trees. It is not an uncommon phenomenon. It is lead mare syndrome. She is lead mare in the herd and there for in charge. I am the "head" of the barn and she doesn't like to submit to me with her strong personality so she tries to rebel against my authority. After a good 10 min fight at the beginning of a ride. She will calm down and be the super sweet horse that everyone else rides. She does comply but with protest in every muscle of her being....it is quite funny. So you learn what keeps one person safe is not safe for another even if you are the better rider than the 8 year old.....lol. You learn that the relationship with your horse is precious and one with walk through "fire" for you to keep you safe especially if you are little girl. You learn that the horse is more sensitive than what you can see which teaches the instructor to look more closely at what your horse is telling you even if you aren't on it. Again, life is the same way, you have to look closely at a situation to determine the true meaning of events. Sometimes looks truly do deceive. 


I did learn a lot from lessons this weekend and not a lot had to do with the actual lesson themselves. I have one more tomorrow, I wonder what it will bring?