It’s no wonder that the theme of progress has been on my mind lately; I have not been able to play with any horses for five weeks! I’ve talked before about being frustrated with my lack of progress and feeling stagnant in my journey, like a boat without a sail.
Despite the fact that I have not even touched my horse in 5 weeks (I am 900 miles away), I have had more epiphanies on progress than ever before. Maybe being out of my element and away from the farm gives me a new perspective. Maybe there’s a lot of learning going on ‘under the hood’ that I’m unaware of while I watch and re-watch dozens of Parelli videos. But my mind has changed. Rather than feel the uncomfortable pressure of progression, I feel the excitement of potential! More importantly, I see the journey not as a means to the end, but as a million little equally valuable journeys.
The journey has always been figuring out how to get from A to Z. I saw where I wanted to be and forgot the importance of how to get there. “The horse doesn’t care how much you know until she knows how much you care.” It’s not how to get my horse from A to Z, but how much do I care about my horse right here, right now, from A to B, then from B to C, then from C to D, or back to B if that’s what she needs. And the progression comes so much more naturally if we are not focused on the end point, but on what the horse needs at that moment. Instead of push, push, push, it's an organic, willing, natural transition forward.
I have heard Linda say it before and I myself have used it many times; a horse is like an onion, you have to peel away the layers before they may expose their inner selves. I feel the same way about myself for the first time. I keep shedding these layers of tradition and experience the more I dedicate myself to the journey, to myself, and to my horse. “If you take care of your horsemanship, it will take care of you.”
Love it!
