I am in love with horses. I stop and watch when they are running in the field and admire their beauty, their spirit, their exuberance for life. It is a delicate balance in training them to meet our needs and wants and not lose that spirit that so attracted us to begin with.
I did not understand horse behavior when I started; I just loved the horse. That is not enough. I needed to learn.
In my earlier days, I thought the lesson was about dominating the horse – “winning” the battle. As I progressed, I became a leader instead of a tyrant. In this new way of being, I am still respected, but my horses are freer to express themselves too. In this new way of being, when a lesson goes wrong, I go back to think about what I am doing wrong, not the horse. It’s The Black Stallion story all over again – and isn’t that what we wanted all along?
