07/29/2025
Excellent words of advice 🙌
Learn to Love the Horse You Have
Social media has a sneaky way of selling us a fantasy. We see stunning horses moving like dancers, riding bridleless across golden fields, performance horses doing perfect maneuvers seemingly never taking one wrong step…and without even realizing it, we start chasing that image.
The idea of the perfect horse.
That horse you’re head over heels for?
He might crib in the stall. He might fence-walk until his hooks get sore. He might be explosive under saddle at the start of every session, when the camera isn’t rolling yet.
You just don’t see it, because social media tends to not show the messy, mundane, or frustrating moments. It only shows the fantasy. Because it’s appealing and it sells.
The sadest part about all of this, when all you see in your social media feed is “perfection”, your own horse starts to feel not enough.
You focus on his quirks. His fears. His setbacks. His flaws and his weaknesses. You start seeing him as a list of negative traits and not enough’s instead of the partner he’s becoming and all the heart and try he’s giving you.
“Comparison is the thief of joy”
- Theodore Roosevelt
It robs you of the joy you could be feeling with the horse that you have right in front of you.
Every horse has strengths and struggles. Every one of them. Even the ones who look flawless online.
Instead of chasing a dream horse that doesn’t exist, start appreciating the horse that you have. All of him. The good, the bad and ugly.
He doesn’t need to be perfect, because perfect was never the point.
Expecting a horse to be flawless, unreactive, obedient and high performing with no problems, hurdles or hiccups 24/7 is an unrealistic standard no living being can meet.
And yet, that’s the silent pressure we put on our horses, thanks to carefully edited posts and photos, curated videos, and a constant stream of highlight reels only who don’t show the whole picture. Your horse will always have days where everything goes smooth and others where he’s struggling.
Just like you.
Loving the horse you have means meeting him where he is at, not where the internet tells you he should be or where other horses seem to be.
By withholding and not allowing for that type of love, due to the constant comparison and focusing on the negative only, you’ll end up sabotaging the both of you.
The Horse Center
