#ebhrc

The Little Woods at Equine Behavioral Health Resource Center

October 13, 2013 was a challenging day. After returning from Douglas Ranch Supply where we picked up a bag of crimped oats, my lesson began with practicing mounting and dismounting, which actually was much, much better today! I’m still learning the movements while on a saddle. I tend to move my shoulders instead of my hips, which is hard because where your hips go, your shoulders follow, which could put me off balance. Then, Chris and I practiced longeing, and ground driving with each other. This is hard because naturally, I tend to want to take the lead (as in being in front) in an activity, but this time I had to be alongside Chris while longeing her while her eyes were closed. We held onto the opposite ends of a 16’ long longe-rope. While she ran in circles, in full strides, I was taking small steps in the center of the circle. Naturally I wanted to take large strides in the circle as well, but by doing so I got in front of her and ended up pulling. Then on top of that, it was my first time, so I didn’t know exactly what to do…I had an idea, but it wasn’t solid. After I got better longeing Chris, we worked with Chief. Oh boy, was that a challenge! It was not only a challenge for me, but also for Chief. I was longeing Chief for the first time; at first we were going to the left, which was both in mine and Chief’s comfort zone. Chris had laid an old garden hose in a circle on the ground in the arena. The game seemed simple enough. All I had to do was walk in a circle inside the hose and ask Chief to walk along beside me outside the hose while matching feet with him. Chris says that this activity is very important as it will help me later on to match hips with Chief while I’m riding. While I was trying to figure out how to do it, Chief would cut through the circle and stop. I would guide him back out, and try again but he kept doing it. I shook the end of the longe rope behind me like a tail, but he would cut in front of me still! Then, Chris had us go to the right. This was the most frustrating lesson to date. I’m left handed; so I’m used to do doing things with my left hand. Even turning left on my bike and car is easier than turning right. It was the same for Chief, he prefers going to the left, for possibly many reasons. So a human and a horse both doing something they’re not used to or prefer not to do…you can probably see where this is going. Chief darts in front of me to turn around, and stops. It got so frustrating because it was as if he knew I didn’t know what I was doing and seized the opportunity to gain the upper hand. After so many trial and errors, I was losing myself to frustration; I wanted to throw the rope and 5’ long longe stick down and just sit where I was. I was tearing up, which made me feel worse because then I felt weak, and not there. Then I found empowerment through “I will get this, and so will Chief”. We then walked a giant rectangle around the arena. I wasn’t afraid to keep Chief on my right and not let him turn his head to the right. I had the handle end of the longe stick between us right where he can see it, and the string end behind us. I made sure at that moment he was going to be on my right, and I will watch him and match feet with him at his side. We did it! After a few rounds, I finally said “I’m done.” So, we took the bitless bridal off Chief and put his fly mask on, and went into the tack room. I tried to process all that happened. The best way I can make of it is: my frustration fueled my learning; my frustration was not a negative experience but a beneficial one. I have to now come up with ways to stay consistent, and match feet with Chris and whichever horse we decide to work with; how to stay at the horse’s side and match feet without getting ahead. I have to learn to not give into my nature of being in front, but instead work alongside as friends. This is something that will take a few trial and errors, but I will get it one day. But because of my lesson I realized that as humans, we sometimes learn through frustration. All our lives we were taught that frustration is negative, and we can’t learn because of it. But on Sunday, I realized that frustration is good, because from my experience I learned faster on a subconscious level. It was as if my mind was subconsciously thinking what to do, and I did it. Although it took me two days to consciously think how I can do better, I believe my frustration fueled my learning that day.