Choose Kindness

First, be kind.

Kindness isn’t always the first instinct for those of us who’ve grown up with horses. Traditional horsemanship “wisdom” tells us that we can’t let the horse win, we have to be the alpha, they aren’t allowed to say no. But luckily, we know that’s not the best way anymore.

Instead, we can just be kind. If our horse doesn’t respond in the way we’d like them to, then we need to find another way to explain it to them. If they say no, we need to ask why. And if we work with our horse, instead of against them, then we can accomplish our goals and win together, as a team.

Remember to be kind to yourself too. It’s so easy to get discouraged when we feel like we’ve gotten something wrong, or haven’t done enough, or just aren’t making the progress we think we should. But we’re all doing the best we can, and as we keep learning, we’ll keep improving.

Be kind to your horse. Be kind to yourself. 

It never hurts to be kind.

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2 thoughts on “Choose Kindness”

  1. I needed to read this today. We have been quarantined for 3 weeks now. Initially I thought , oh good I can catch up on all kinds of things. I’ll spend more time with the ponies and paint their jumps and get an early start on training. Well the weather hasn’t cooperated and when I simply go out to groom them it’s an argument. I know they are feeding off me. I’m scared , I miss my grandkids, who I watch full time. I feel like I have no purpose. I’m going to go out now and just be kind to my babies. I’ll groom the buffers tomorrow!!
    I hope your little guy is ok.

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