Yesterday turned out to be a little more enlightening than I
had expected. When the opportunity of
attending the Horsemanship seminar was first posted I was one of the first to
sign up. The prospect of spending a day
in an environment with horses, horse smells and surroundings that would bring
back a flood of great memories was too much to pass up. Little did I realize exactly just how much I
would learn and take away from the day.
When we first arrived we were seated under a cozy gazebo
surrounded by a beautiful garden, water fall, pond and the great outdoors.
Amongst this a table with fresh desserts, fruit and the best biscuits I have
ever eaten. We began our afternoon by
going over a few famous quotes, each of us picking out the one that spoke
directly to us, giving everyone an idea of why we were there, our goals for the
day and our comfort level with these incredibly sensitive, intelligent and
magnificent animals. My initial goal for
the day was truly very simple, it was to spend a day in a relaxing environment,
a day away from the ‘to do list’ and time spent outside the kwoon getting to
better know a few of my fellow training mates.
Instead I learnt more about myself and a few of the many things I need
to work on. I needed perhaps an entire week spent at the
end of a lead shank. I found out I
wasn’t able to run from a regular hectic Saturday morning and just jump into
relax mode. I found out I have more
control issues than I would like to admit and may just be missing out on some
of the more minute details (but maybe the most important) in many moments of
life because of being in a rush to get to the end product. In my horse picked for the day I met my
match. Nugget didn’t just go through the
motions easily and out of routine but rather challenged me. I looked at him; he looked at me, closed his
eyes as he wished me good luck as he stood his ground. He
didn’t respond to the ‘me’ trying to take control and pull 750lbs on the other
end of the lead to get the task done and move on to what’s next. He had no use for the let’s get
moving and we can squeeze even more into the afternoon attitude. Rather he waited for me to breathe, be in the
moment, move with intention and purpose and together work to get us to where we
were to go.
Then came the partner work where once again I found I had to
work WITH my partner. I was blind folded leading Nugget while listening to my
partner give me instructions as to how to avoid the obstacles on my way down
the arena to retrieve the flag and get back safely. I will be honest, it was hard to stay focused
on my partners voice while all around me I could hear others giving instructions
to their partners. I felt I had no
control, had to rely on another and was trying to do all this while in an
environment full of distractions, all the time fighting the urge to lift the
corner of the blindfold. Trusting can be
hard, even when it’s your own son who I hope wasn’t trying to run me into a
fence or trip over the rail, although I’m sure it would make him giggle!
In the change of routine in life recently I have found that
the roles I once filled and were responsible for are hard to give up and let
go. It is not for the sake that I want
to do them myself because I truly do appreciate, need and want the help; it’s
just that for so long I controlled them and it was my ‘job’ (as stupid as that
may sound). Others in my life, like
Nugget, won’t always or maybe never, respond well with me pulling on the lead fighting
for control. I need to hand over the
reins on things at times and trust that others are quite capable to do as good
of or better job than me. Once again I
am being shown that one person cannot accomplish what working together with
others can and that working together and trusting one another makes the end
result so much sweeter with many lessons learnt along the way.
A huge thank you again to Mr. McKee, it was an absolutely
wonderful day, rain, lightening, hail and all!
Alana Regier
http://alanaregier.blogspot.ca
