The Project:
Horses from many walks of life, communication through body language, tools used only for safety, never to train.
The Goal:
To discover how far Equestrian Art can be developed solely using body language.
Set Up for Tomorrow
Yesterday I did not pick up Ari’s hooves even though I know I can now. Yesterday I did not practice wrapping my arm all the way over his back, even though I know I can now. Yesterday I did not get close to Atlas more than once, even though we spent hours together. Yesterday I did not push Atlas’s boundaries beyond his firm comfort zone, not even once.
Instead I spent over six hours with the stallions, simply being attentive and choosing my actions around them wisely while reading the micro changes in their bodies to let me know if my choices from moment to moment were on an improving trend or a degrading trend (helping the horses feel better or feel worse).
This is the real work for Freedom Based Training®. Even though I did nothing outside the comfort zone for either horse yesterday, I feel more successful in my choices than most days.
I do not judge my success of today by the changes I see today, only by the changes I will see tomorrow.
More importantly, if the changes I see tomorrow surprise me and are for the worse not the better, that is a good thing not a bad thing. Because how else would I know that the things I did yesterday were choices that need to be weighed, considered, honed and developed?
This is the real work. Do the very best we know how to do in setting up for tomorrow, then tomorrow assess how well we did and do better. We can only do better when we know better and we can only know better by practicing and then assessing.
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
Thank you, Maya Angelou.
We have been taught as a society that we are judged on the improvements we can show. The value of our work is measurable by what has changed for the better toward our goals. I am reasonably comfortable with this, but I am not comfortable with the pressure and speed we are all expected to perform under.
What happens if you simply slow down and lower your expectations for success, or even your expectation to be able to judge success today? If all you do today is set up for success tomorrow, you can only judge today’s work tomorrow.
I think slowing down and lowering our expectations makes us the kind of horse trainer that horses might choose to be around and choose to work with cooperatively.
I ask myself, what can I do today that makes picking up Ari’s hooves easier tomorrow?
I ask myself, what can I do today that makes being closer to each other seem more feasible to Atlas tomorrow?
Then I hone the feel and the timing of the small tasks that come before the big tasks.
How many times can the horses feel good about the smaller tasks that build up to the bigger tasks tomorrow?
Tomorrow, perhaps picking up Ari’s hooves will feel so effortless that that task becomes the thing we practice in preparation for handling them with a rasp to trim the edges the following day. Or the day after that.
Tomorrow, perhaps being close to Atlas will feel so effortless that that task becomes the thing we practice in preparation for touching him.
The goal has changed from doing the thing outside the comfort zone (where society has taught us our worth is measured) to doing the thing just on the inside edge of the comfort zone.
Do the thing that is possible in order to improve the feelings of well-being associated with it. The thing that is barely possible to do… leave that for tomorrow.
Work on the foundation for what you want to do tomorrow and build that foundation so strongly that tomorrow you can do it with joy for both the horse and the human.
I am writing this for me as much as I am writing it for everyone else. At the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019, I know New Year’s resolutions abound for everyone.
I am suggesting, that you give yourself the gift of time in your resolutions.
Work today to build good feeling for the things you might do tomorrow. Work today on your set up for tomorrow, then look forward to learning from tomorrow how you can set up better in the future.
If you are always learning how to set up better for tomorrow, then in your learning you are always a success. This is what I want for myself in the year to come. This is the gift I want to give you in the year to come.
Set up for success, then assess how well set up for success you feel the following day, improve, and repeat.
If you would like some inspiration for how you do this, I just posted a three-part lecture on Patreon I think you really might enjoy. The lecture is part theory and part personal stories from the trek across Costa Rica we took in the beginning of the year, while we were filming Taming Wild: Pura Vida.
The lecture is here in three parts:
https://www.patreon.com/posts/intro-to-freedom-23657959
https://www.patreon.com/posts/intro-to-freedom-23658111
https://www.patreon.com/posts/intro-to-freedom-23658145
It is posted publicly so you can see it even if you are not a member yet. I do hope you enjoy it and decide to join us as a member for weekly updates and inspirations to make 2019 your best year ever, while at the same time also helping me in filming, documenting, and sharing the developments ahead!
A Happy New Year to you and yours!
Hooves and Heartbeats,
Elsa
