“One Of Our Greatest Freedoms Is How We React To Things”

“One of our greatest freedoms is how we react to things.” - Charlie Mackesy

The way we respond to the world around us can make all the difference in how our horses feel us. Just as we want them to respond to life in a thoughtful, responsive way, it’s important for us to recognize how we are affected by the world around us. If someone cuts us off in traffic, do we freak out and rage for the rest of the drive? When we forget to grab something at the grocery store do we bully ourselves for the mistake or do we figure out a solution? There are so many real life pressures we have to navigate through on a day to day basis. It’s not about never reacting, it’s about how quickly we can pause, recognize our reactive states and bring ourselves back to a thoughtful place.

When we work with our horses, our mental state can play a huge role in how our horses will respond to the work. Things can feel so incredible on the days where we come to our horses in a positive frame of mind! Our rides are amazing, everything flows and we end our sessions feeling excited and grateful for the next experience!

On a tough day even the smallest struggles seem big. It seems like nothing flows, everything is hard and we often times feel discouraged and overwhelmed by all the things that need to change.

On these challenging days we need to remember that it’s more about adjusting our sails rather than leaving the ship on the dock. When things feel complicated, how can we make our sessions simple? Asking ourselves how can we find success with our horse gives us the opportunity to remember that things don’t need to be perfect. Sometimes that means slowing down; simply sitting in the pasture, practicing our breathing, or maybe going for a walk instead of riding.

Growth with our horses isn’t a linear process. Every day we honor where we’re at and work towards making our relationships a bit better, we are finding success!