I'll give it a go!

I’ve always been glad of my ‘I’ll give it a go’ attitude. It has allowed me to skydive, parascend behind a speedboat (I am terrified of the ocean!!) and abseil down one of the highest waterfalls in England, among other things. So when I turned up at Pippsway with my ‘I’ll give it a go’ attitude I thought it would stand me in good stead. Oh how wrong can you be?

Pip has taught me that horses don’t respond well to ‘giving it a go’! Before we do anything with our horses we must be determined and decided. After all, as a prey animal our horse needs to feel reassured at all times that we are his leader, we will keep him safe and that he can trust us. If we are lacking in concentration and are more interested in gas bagging than keeping an eye out for lions how can he possibly put his faith in us? If we don’t have his faith then we have nothing. He isn’t going to listen to us and even if he does when all is well, he certainly won’t the moment all is not!

So my attitude has had to change somewhat. Single minded focus is the approach we must adopt when we are working with our horses. Anything less and we might as well not bother. Even having learned this principle from Pip I often forget and then her horses quickly remind me!!! Like any other skill keeping our focus takes practise. Maintaining that focus whilst chatting is a skill Pip has mastered…….and one I am going to have to work on. In fact maintaining my focus at all for any period is a challenge at the moment. If I am truly to ever be at one with my horse I’d better get focused on focusing!!!

I've chosen this photo for today's blog post as it is a beautiful example of what can be achieved when we are completely focused. Here Pip is working with her Spanish mare Pizarra, they are in total harmony with one another. That is what I am striving to achieve.