"You're not working on your horse, you're working on yourself"

" You're not working on your horse.  You're working on yourself."  The great horseman, Ray Hunt, said these words.  I heard him say it at a clinic I attended many years ago, but I was no more prepared to hear that from him on that day, than I would be to hear the sun isn't coming up tomorrow.  I really had no idea what it meant.  But thanks to a friend sending a photo with that quote on it to me, I have had time to reflect on those words and what they mean to me.

I've been fortunate throughout my life to ride some pretty good horses.  I've also had the misfortune to ride some "not so good horses".  But....and I'm just coming to realize this from the aforementioned quote, I've learned something from all of them....the good ones and the bad ones.  I hope that with each horse I've grown as a horseman.  That each horse I ride I can make a little better than the last one.  But moreover that I'm better because I've learned something from each horse. 

Riding young horses is what really does it for me.  Seeing the progress, knowing I taught that horse something.  That's what floats my boat.  I don't have anything against someone buying a horse already trained.....there may come a day when time or some other obstacle prohibits me from riding the young ones.....and I'll have to buy a trained horse.  But for now, my satisfaction comes from teaching a young horse all I can, making him or her a good horse and learning something myself.  It's very rewarding.

I'll be honest though, I'm more scared than I used to be.  I can't afford to get hurt.  I have too much responsibility to be laid up and I think about that more than I probably should.  Horses sense much of what we are thinking and feeling ,which can make me not as effective as a horseman. At times anyway, I'm not as aggressive as I used to be or probably should be.  That's partly because when I was younger, I hadn't had all the wrecks I've had since then.  And I think we all reach a point in our lives, whatever we do, when we realize we are not invincible......What I've come to realize is the ground hurts.  I know this for a fact.  And it hurts more now than it did fifteen or twenty years ago.  So I'm more cautious, maybe too cautious sometimes.  Down right chicken on occasion if you want the absolute truth.  I don't think it's all bad, though.  Because with caution also has come knowledge.  Or maybe with knowledge has come caution.   I'm a little smarter about what can happen so I take extra steps to avoid it.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I know that I'm a better horseman today than I was even one year ago.  That's not to say that I'm the horseman I want to be or aspire to be.  That's not even saying that I consider myself that good of a hand. I've said a lot of times that I know a LOT more than I did twenty years ago and now I just realize how little I know now. There is always, always something more to learn.  Ways to improve for both me and my horses.  I look forward to what I will learn in the years to come and with the horses in my future.