The importance of focus and the difference it makes to a horse is paramount if we are to experience any measure of success with horses.
One of the elements of the horse that some people find frustrating, is their innate ability to change our focus. We set out with the best intentions to perform a certain task, only to find that our horse has other ideas! Pretty soon we get so caught up in arguing with our horse, that we’ve gotten right away from what we intended to do and possibly even forgotten what it was we were doing!
When first starting your journey to horsemanship, we suggest that in these early stages, you take a chair or a marker with you when you head out to play with your horse, to help you determine where your starting – and hopefully finishing - spot is. In other words, do you begin playing in one spot and find yourself sooner or later in a totally different place? As a born follower who relies on having a good leader in order to stay safe, a horse will test your focus constantly, especially if he sees it as somewhat lacking. Horses are so good at doing it, that it’s easy to find yourself ending up quite a long way from where you began.
If you allow this to happen with your horse without correcting it, he will see it as a leadership weakness and keep exploiting it until either you learn to become a better leader or he has the opportunity to take the top job himself. We need to learn to not take this personally when it happens, just understand why the horse does it and see it from his perspective.
The other element of focus is having a plan. At Quantum Savvy, when we first meet a new student, one of the initial things we ask them is what their goals are. Very few people have a clear goal, just a nebulous idea that maybe things should be different. The trouble with this approach is that it lacks direction. It would be like setting off in your car without so much as a road let alone a road map showing you how to get there. If you do not know where you are going, how will you know when you have arrived? You will probably just wander around for a while, eventually getting disorientated and lost and most likely never reaching your destination.
Having a clearly defined goal or dream will greatly increase your chances of getting somewhere. To help you reach your goals, find a programme or instructor that you like and feel comfortable with and allow them to be your road map. Follow it closely and see it through to the finish and you will reach your goals. Be warned, every time your focus wavers and your car leaves the road, you risk losing your way again and you may find the path gets quite bumpy. The Road To Horsemanship Lesson Videos
Lesson 3, Chapter 7:
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- By Meredith Ransley, Quantum Savvy.