From my Horse ...... II

My horse has taught me many great lessons in life that could have never came from anyone else.  

My horse has shown me how to be a leader, how to be strong, how to love and how to be loved. 

One of the biggest lessons with her has been learning to “Let go”.

Let go of expectations.

Let go of control.

Let go of outcomes.

She has shown me how to let got and live!

She has shown me how to let go and love!

The first lesson in this came back in July 2022. 

If you have been on my email list &/or tuned in to previous coffee chats you would have heard me talk about My horse and how she injured her leg.

If you haven’t….. Check out the coffee chat - click here

In the recovery process of my horse's injury, we hit a wall for afew weeks and it seemed like things were getting worse.  She was so sore, the swelling was increasing.  We were trying all sorts of different treatment protocols and nothing seemed to change anything. 

What kept coming up for was thoughts like...
“I wasted my money on the surgery”
“She’s never going to recover to performance level”
“I wasted my time with her”

SO MANY YUCKY THOUGHTS.

It was a very challenging time for me, mentally, emotionally and physically as her care was very intensive.

It felt like I hit rock bottom and the only option seemed to LET GO of everything.

I let go of the expectation that she had to come back to Dressage competition.

I let go of the “wasted time & money”.

And I faced the reality of “what will I choose with her if she never fully recovers?”

In letting go I embraced the possibility of breeding her.

I embraced the possibility of starting a new young horse.

I actually started googling possible stallion choices in canada….. This led to me purchasing a new dutch warmblood filly called Dream (who is now 2 and will be lightly starting her training this winter, very excited about this!)

What started to happen with my mare, in this letting go, is she started to heal.  The swelling started to come down and her pain started lessening.

I am proud to say that we did return to the competition ring together in the summer of 2023 and 2024.

The letting go OPENED UP possibilities and allowed for change.

NOW…. Last year we started training flying lead changes with the target to compete at third level this past summer (2024).  We did compete at third level in July (it was not pretty…. we weren't really ready but I wanted to try…. You can read actually read about that experience - click here

I’m a slow learner, lol…. My horse has had harvest off for a field break.  I started riding her again about 3 weeks ago in preparation for a riding clinic with my coach (that’s happening this weekend).

When I started riding her, I had the intention of “we are going to get these flying changes THIS WINTER and show third level next summer”

What started happening is my mare got anxious, tense, resistant, under saddle.

I am getting quicker at recognizing THIS, and I started asking her to show me “what's going on”.

I could see how I was riding her from this expectation. 
I realized that I needed to LET GO again.

Let go of the plan.

Let go of the control.

Let go of the expectation.

SO, I have been riding my horse this last week with no intention or expectation of third level and flying lead changes.

I have been riding her for fun, working on suppleness and relaxation. 
Letting go of the reins and discovering a new way of being together, a new way of riding together.

I am excited for this clinic.

I am excited for our winter work together - holding suppleness, softness, and letting go as the target of each ride and discovering what shows up for show season next year.

Maybe I won't even show her……
Maybe I will start bringing baby Dream out to the horse shows….

Stay Tuned!

MY QUESTION TO YOU IS..... where in your life are things not working well? where in your life is resistance? where do you feel like you are forcing things?

What can you let go of?

What are you expecting to happen?

What are you controlling?

Do you dare to let go? 

HUGSSSS AND CHEERS <3
XXXXXXX

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