Perhaps there is just a wee bit more to it all. One lifetime is not enough, blah, blah, blah. Unfortunately, the older I get the more I realize this is so true.
With a young horse there is so very much to teach it. What did you forget? Do you even know what you should be training and teaching. Of course not. It's like raising a kid. With the first one you do your best. I hope. But possibly make more mistakes in the process of raising it than you might do for number two or three in the line up. That's pretty much the same for owning horses. And in both cases, you need to forgive yourself for mistakes made. Naturally, learn from them. That is a sacred duty.
Sometimes it's the little things you forget. You find out in a hurry. For example, I had worked diligently with a particular young horse eons ago. Purchased him as a weanling, set him up for success or so I thought. Imprint trained " A La Robert Miller ' , daily handling. taught to stand and tie, to trailer, to hold his feet calmly for a farrier, present himself happily for the vet etc. I took his training under saddle slowly, waiting for this big warmblood to properly develop past the two year knee closure requirement and well into his fourth year before mounting him.
Natural horsemanship, top dressage help, alternative therapies including shiatsu, massage, acupunture were all included. I avidly read every book on horses that I could lay my hands on, I watched every video on the market I think. It was up to me to be ready. To be prepared. To know. I had after all, a Vision.
And then the big day. Show day. Off we went. No schooling shows for us, we just went for it. He was after all so beautifully trained.
He settled well on the showgrounds, trusted me gamely while he looked quizzically at umbrella wielding spectators, strollers and show noise, flapping tents and massive horses prancing all around him. The warm up was uneventful. Short and sweet. He was in great humor.
To the ring we went and the steward stepped up to examine the bit. She was nervous. He felt it. I felt it. He tried to stand obediently he really did. But then she raised her hands to his mouth and her hand held radio went off. She called back to someone about something and tried to hang on to his bit as he tossed his head. We were lost. That was it. I had earnestly trained him as a foal to allow handling of his mouth. But of course that was me asking. I had never thought to have a complete stranger do it. I had followed all the classical rules of longe work for a dressage horse and used a cavesson to avoid that pull on the bit during learning phases that can unhinge a horse as he cavorts about. Perhaps that was a mistake, because this lady was pulling on his mouth. Perhaps I should have longed him with side rein to bit. Dr. Bechtolsheimer and Mr. Stahlecker, Mr. Brenderup, are you listening? But whatever. In one moment she had frightened him. She kept trying and trying. He began to rear so I had to dismount. I opened his mouth. Showed her the bit. Yes, a double linked snaffle - totally allowed. The test, needless to say was a bit of a disaster. But in reality, however much you try, you cannot bombproof your horse.
What had I forgotten. That golden rule. However earnest you are in your training, mistakes happen. They may be yours, they may belong to others. But your horse always has a way of humbling you should you become too arrogant or over confident. Not his fault of course. Well O.K. sometimes it is his fault. Entirely.
As we go bobbing along in life with our horse ( or kid, or both), we can all only try to remember to forgive ourselves and our horse (kid), for mistakes past, to live in the present and to continue everyday to strive earnestly for knowledge with an open heart and mind.
When you see something going wrong for someone else with a horse at a show, in the ring, at the barn, it doesn't automatically mean they did something with malice or bad intention. Perhaps just ignorance. Perhaps it was just a fluke. In any event your horse seems to eternally forgive you - he thinks the best of your intentions. Try that when someone says something to you that you could take offense at. That you might feel upset by - try just taking it as well intended and without malice. An earnest attempt at communication. Horses teach us many things and freedom is another of them. But that's a topic for another blog.
