Coming into this class I thought I had a pretty good background of horses. I felt confident getting on any horse and making them do what I wanted to. The few areas I was not as confident I figured I could get around them without facing the problems. Oh how wrong I was in everything I thought. Spirit may not be the horse that fits me perfectly but he is the horse that was meant to teach me perfectly. There is an old farmers quote hanging on my wall back home that says, "When ya start thinkin you are someone of importance try orderin' 'round someone else's dog." That was how I felt with Spirit this entire semester. As I recorded in this blog, Spirit started out showing a lot of dominance, energy, and fight to him, Left Brain. This was so hard for me to address using the principles I was trying to learn, because its my instinct to stop the action or restrict it. Where in reality he may be just playing and I need to play with him to form a better relationship. At the beginning I had to try really hard to establish myself as the leader of our little herd. Spirit seemed to know I was smaller or that when I did try and send him away it would not be significant to make a difference. During this whole process of leadership establishment I was humbled at the fact that Spirit could not be fooled or intimidated. I had to understand him and not just rely on brute strength. Once I had proven myself to him. He became his real self a big fluffy yellow teddy bear. For the most part I found that Spirit likes to just relax and be, Right Brain introvert. He doesn't need to always be running, playing, investigating, or moving. When he feels comfortable in a situation he will just enjoy the moment.
I figured this new personality out and thought that life would be so easy now, but then I was taught a new trait. Now that I was the leader I had to act like the leader. I had to be persuasive and bold enough to get him to do things. I had to make it interesting, comfortable, non-fearful, and encouraging. Every day was a new day for Spirit and I. One day I would figure out what to do when he is scared or starts to feel nervous. Then the next day I had to figure out how to stimulate him enough to move according to my energy level. I was constantly learning something new. As hard as this was and for as many times as I felt discouraged I also succeeded in something worth while.
Learning the principles such as pressure motivates and release teaches was hard but valuable. I used it not only with Spirit but also with people I associated with and myself. I became more aware of the releases or the rewards I give people when I talk to them. I also learned to be more patience with the horses and life. I can't just put the maximum amount of pressure on a horse and expect him to understand what I meant. I need to suggest and explain little by little.
Many times this semester I would try and jump to the advance move or the main goal and forget about the little building sequences. When I did this I did not save any time and I usually didn't make any progress either. Just like the gospel teaches every true principle must be taught line upon line.
In the end I learned that Spirit is mostly a Left Brain Introvert with tendencies to go to Right Brain extrovert.
Also, you are never perfect and with every new horse you get on you can learn something new. Every horse is different but the principle are the same and can be applied accordingly to help understand that horse. I am coming away from this class with a greater appreciation for the horse. They are an amazing animal that is greatly misunderstood by many people just because they have not taken the time to listen and read their body language. I know I was one of those people. Horses put up with a lot from us and are the true patient ones. Given a horse has a personality as well, which is then called a horsenality, so they can have attitudes and be stubborn or mean but we have to understand which actions are which. By doing that we can address the problems correctly and hopefully always fix them to help create a wonderful pair.
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