05/09/2025
This is a different kind of win than I ever used to celebrate… but it’s SOOOO much more rewarding!!! This horse and I used to GRIND… and by that, I mean I used to grind, and I dragged him along with me 😕 For the past two years I’ve had very limited time for my horses, and mostly I’ve been totally ok with that. But looking out the window at this sweet boy and watching his body has weighed on my soul. It hurt bc I have so much more knowledge than I ever have before. I’ve always considered myself a soft rider but I didn’t always know what a happy body should look like… or how the way I used to ride didn’t always make for a happy body. My husband and I joke that I just like touching horses bodies now and that I don’t ride. It’s partly true. I love touching their bodies and seeing how I can help them soften to my touch. I also love riding. But I no longer love riding the way I used to. Maybe I’ll compete again someday, maybe I won’t. I don’t care. What I care about is if my horse is happy in their mind and body.
I used to struggle hard core to have a stretchy trot with Russell and any lesson I ever took had me wiggling, fidgeting or pushing him forward (with good intentions behind it) but I often left feeling confused, frustrated. Or maybe I left with a brief sense of accomplishment, but that soon faded. Now, with a whisper of my contact he will stretch, lift, flex left or right and relax his tongue and jaw… it feels like magic✨. It’s not perfect every step but the conversation is always soft.
The slowness and subtlety of the way I now ‘work’ with horses probably seems silly to many, and is waaaay too slow for the common place pace of our world, but I really believe that slow is fast. My slow is an even slower fast bc I have three kids and a business 🤣 but I’m at peace with it. And as a highly driven, frequently anxious person I finally feel that peace deeply (it’s not every part of my life that I feel this, work in progress 😅) but to know that I can work slowly and thoughtfully, without grinding, and still see magnificent changes is incredible! My horses are happy and enjoy my company and THAT is all I need 🤍.