I made this video awhile back.  It is interesting to see it again because the message is still the same but there are new challenges in my life that I have had to apply this to.  I’m sure many of you go through seasons of your life where the same lessons need to be applied within new layers and new depths of your journey.

I want to challenge you in 2012 to take a look at what you really want to do with your horses and Take Responsibility for your dreams and Take Action to make them a reality.

The path to success is to take massive, determined action.
~Tony Robbins

The story behind the story of “War Horse” is how author Michael Morpurgo came to write from the horse’s perspective. First, in 1975 he had a conversation with a veteran of WWI in a pub. The veteran told him about his experience with horses during the war, how he would feed the horses and spend time talking to the horses because he felt he had no one else with whom he could talk. That conversation started Morpurgo’s research into the history of horses during WWI.

The second piece of the puzzle came as Michael and his wife opened a center for children to come from the city to their farm outside of London to experience life on a farm for a week. One time a young boy came to spend a week with them but the teachers let them know this one boy would not speak and not to push him or he would become hysterical. Toward the end of the week Michael found him in the stables talking to a horse telling her of his days activities and hopes and dreams. It was then that he knew the perspective of his story must be told through the war horse’s eyes, listening to the hopes and fears of all those who took care of him. He saw the magical connection between man and animal and understood the power of transformation this connection can make.

Michael wrote this book over 30 years ago and has only sold a few thousand copies a year but it seems that now is the time for this story to be told. I don’t know about you but I will be in line somewhere when this movie comes out.

If you go see this movie this Christmas season Please come back and leave a comment.

In this video I discuss the role of these obstacles in our lives and how we can overcome them. I put this video together as we were leaving Colorado this fall and I include a view from one of my favorite spots in Pagosa! Enjoy and please share below how one of these obstacles has affected your journey.

Jerry

One thing I did then that I am attempting to bring back into my life is that I focused on my own physical fitness.

I searched and researched exercises that were good for riding. When I heard a term like Feldenkrais and Rolfing or myofascial release I looked it up to see how it might apply to my riding. I started my own little workout routine consisting of stretches and strength building exercises. I focused a lot on the hips and lower back.

At the time I just threw some things together, it was pretty hap hazard but it got results. I now realize that I was working on my core and know how important strength in the core is to riding and almost any other physical activity.

I came across this 9 minute video that gives some simple exercises for strengthening your back and core. I’ve been doing them for several days and I can already feel a difference in my posture.

Like I said they are real simple and can be done in less than 10 minutes. Although this is not specifically about riding, strengthening your core and correcting your posture will make a big difference in your riding.

I hope this gives you a starting point and that you will do your own research and discover a path for you to become more fit and enjoy your life to a greater degree.

Please leave a comment and share how your fitness level has affected your riding.

That simple phrase seems to have become my theme since then, both in my own horsemanship and in helping others raise their expectations. I have come to realize that my horses don’t give much because I don’t expect much of them, consequently I don’t ask for much. It becomes a vicious cycle that slowly grinds us to a halt.

At a few points during the summer Pat pushed me and my horse pretty hard and I never really questioned why he did it. But he explained to me that day that he pushed us hard so I could see what my horse was capable of. It was at that point the lesson became clear. He never pushed beyond what either one of us were capable but he did push us out of the usual. He had an expectation for both of us and we tried to live up to it.

To me an expectation is simply the picture we have in our mind of how something should or will be. As I have explained to many of my students we need to have expectations that are appropriate for ourselves and our horses. Much like we have expectations of a first grader and the skills that are appropriate for their grade level. However, as they grow and learn our expectations change. The expectations we have for a first grader are going to be different than a fifth grader and still different than a freshman in high school and so on. The same is true with our horses, we need to have realistic and appropriate expectations.

Sometimes in our endeavor to create a good relationship with our horse and not be too “direct line” we lower our expectations for ourselves and our horses. And on the other hand we can see in certain segments of the competitive world unrealistic expectations for horses, such as performing a sport before they have a foundation which can lead to disappointment, frustration, undue stress and finally force. But not having clear and appropriate expectations can be harmful in not living up to your full potential. We vacillate between two worlds, unrealistic expectations of our horses and no expectations. What we fail to see is the middle ground of appropriateness.

I challenge you to raise your expectations and ask for more and you may be surprised at how much your horse will give. As you raise your expectations of your horse, I want to challenge you again as students to “raise your expectations of yourself” and what you can accomplish in your own horsemanship.

Please leave a comment below.

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I have such a vivid picture of the speech that it haunts me to this day. That image I recall monthly if not weekly in the course of my life because I would be the one he was talking to because I tend to quit before I get started.

In our journey with our horses as with our journey through life, we have choices. The biggest choice is to quit or move on. Some of us never quit on things that we should have abandoned long ago but most of us give up far too easily on the things that matter most to us.

What is it that you want from your horsemanship journey? Have you already quit and now you are settling for something less than what you really want? Take heart from a great statesman and “Never give up”.

I found this video on youtube that has the same message but presented in a different way.

Please leave your comments. I now have an additional image to recall when I get knocked down. Get Back Up and Never Give Up!

This video was sent to me by Ale G, a very accomplished dressage rider herself. It’s of Edward Gal and Moorlands Totilas’ and their performance at the World Dressage Masters series in Hickstead, 2009. As we were watching this together later she commented ” If they perform like that at the Olympics they will take GOLD”.

Here is the winning event that broke the world record with a score of 89.40%.

Enjoy!

Click Here for Video

I am not an expert by any means but this is an inspiring performance and it’s definitely World Class.

Please return here and leave a comment.

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What is your dream?

Here is a lady that was unemployed and caring for her sick mother in a tiny village in Scotland. She has had a dream of being a professional singer since she was a little girl. To the outside world she looks foolish and a very unlikely prospect for a professional singer. From all that I read about her she had about given up on her dream.
Have you ever had a dream that others laughed at or worse you laughed with them at it? Have you ever wanted to do something or be something that made no sense to those around you? And sometimes it didn’t make sense even to you but still you were drawn toward it? Have you ever dreamed something so big that it was deemed foolish by those around you?

Do you have a dream inside of you that you have just about given up on? What is it?

What is your Dream?

Think of it right now as you watch this video and be prepared to be inspired to drag it out and dust it off and start to live your dream.

This video is a clip from the TV show “Britain’s Got Talent”, Britain’s  equivalent to “American Idol”.
Many of you may have viewed this video clip previously but take a look at it again in light of your personal dreams!

Watch the video here

Then return and leave a comment about your Dream.

I encourage you to Dream Big and never give up!

Lyrics to I Dreamed a Dream

I dreamed a dream in time gone by
When hope was high,
And life worth living
I dreamed that love would never die
I dreamed that God would be forgiving.

Then I was young and unafraid
When dreams were made and used,
And wasted
There was no ransom to be paid
No song unsung,
No wine untasted.

But the tigers come at night
With their voices soft as thunder
As they tear your hopes apart
As they turn your dreams to shame.

And still I dream he’ll come to me
And we will live our lives together
But there are dreams that cannot be
And there are storms
We cannot weather…

I had a dream my life would be
So different from this hell I’m living
So different now from what it seems
Now life has killed
The dream I dreamed.

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Flashback…

…to a job I had over 30 years ago. I mowed the fairways of the country club golf course. I always hated to mow on Tuesdays because it was “Ladies Day”. That was the day I always had to dodge several balls that came flying my way. If the ball didn’t hit me or the tractor I would usually run over it with the mower and tear it to shreds. Not good for customer relations.

I had to ask myself…

Are women that much worse shots than men? No! I don’t think so! I do, however, think they were more concerned about hitting me than most men. Therefore, their focus was more on me than down the middle of the fairway. Naturally, the balls followed their focus and headed right towards me.

So many times we focus on where we don’t want to go, instead of where we do want to go and wind up exactly where we didn’t want to be in the first place.

I don’t know about you but that sounds a lot like our horsemanship journey at times. The results we’ve been looking for and working towards seem to get further away, without realizing it we are focusing on the wrong thing and as a result we wind up exactly where we didn’t want to be.

Remember, we determine our focus and as an outcome we determine our results.

Please leave a comment about how focus has affected your results.

Why do we have horses?

I think for most of us, at least those of us that abide by natural horsemanship, we have horses in our lives because of the connection that is possible. It is that interconnection that causes us to have horses. Somehow it makes us feel better.

Kind of mushy… but you know what I mean.

What is that connection, that mystical bond we seek? I think that this bond has different facets for each one of us. For some it could be as simple as a connection to another living being, to others a deeper connection to oneself and for others it’s a spiritual connection to nature. I don’t know what it is for you, but I do know that for most of us this connection is not a means to something more but an end in itself. And that’s why the idea of relationship rings so loud in our ears.
If your relationship with your horse is simply a means to an end then your horse becomes a tool to further your own ambitions or an extension of your ego. When we use our horses to further what we want then I’m not sure that we can call that a relationship. Maybe an association would be more appropriate.

Ok I’ll get off my soap box…

Sometimes I get a little carried away.

Recently I heard an idea that “relationships are emotion intensifiers”. They are the place where we feel our deepest, most intense emotions. Although this was directed toward human relationships I believe it holds true for our relationships with our horses and other animals as well. We feel the deepest hurts and the greatest joy in our relationships along with a whole range of feelings in between.

I found this video and I think it embodies all I have been trying to say. This clip is a story about a relationship two young men had with a lion. Many of you may have seen this but I just discovered it and it moved me enough to share it with you.

Enjoy and please leave a comment about how a relationship with an animal has impacted your life.