When the horse is in trouble and the human doesn't know how to help him, the human lets his pride get in the way and the first thing you know - it's a contest.  The human makes it a win or lose situation, and if you're not real careful, the horse comes out the winner.  The horse doesn't know what win or lose is, or what a contest is, until the human shows it to him.

I'd like help the human understand how much less he can use and how much more he can get done.  The human is so busy working on the horse, that he doesn't allow the horse to learn.  They need to quit working on the horse and start working on themselves.  They might get it done, but they don't get it done with the horse in the right frame of mind.  The horse usually gets the job done in spite of us, not because of us. 

You need to notice the horse making changes for the better.  Expression is extremely important.  The horse has body expression and mental expression.  You must learn to read the horse's expression.  The horse has multitudes of actions and reactions.  They are all separate, yet inseparable.  The horse will always tell you the facts.  The horse is very honest.  We can teach him to cheat by not filling in the blank spaces for him, but that comes from the human, not the horse. 

Practice doesn't make perfect.  Perfect practice makes perfect. We need to be more disciplined within ourselves so that we can present our objective to the horse in a way that he can understand.  Allow them to learn; allow them to work at things; allow them to figure things out.  Make the wrong thing difficult, the right thing easy.

As time goes on, all the little things will fall into line.  A lot of times, it is darkest before the dawn.  Sometimes the horse might get a little worse before it gets better.  We should be adjusting to fit the horse.  Fix it up and let it work.  You can't make it happen and you can't put a time limit on it.  Sometimes the slower you go, the faster you learn.

photo courtesy of Sue Parrott