We are always in the process of learning and this can be frustrating when what we want to do isn’t as easy to achieve as we thought. When working with horses (or any animal) we can ask what we want, we can get the right positioning and the right technique but the animal always has the timeline. What does that mean I hear you say?
The TIMELINE is the amount of time the animal needs to be relaxed and figure something out, whether it needs to become acclimatised to something flapping about, time to figure out something new, time to just think really. We need to allow them to do this so they have the timeline on everything, we can’t rush them or they can become frightened or shut down and can cause innate reactions of Flight, Fight, Freeze (or even shutting down or learned helplessness).
So if the horse has the timeline and you’re trying to progress and even you become worried about doing something new then this is where the word YET can help you not get frustrated. Whenever I am trying to do something but I know we have more progress to achieve then I use the word YET at the end of a sentence such as:
We can’t do that YET
We can’t figure that out YET
We haven’t tried that YET
We haven’t tried riding YET
We won’t try that just YET
By putting YET at the end of a negative sentence will change it into a positive sentence and helps you feel that you can achieve things once you’ve got more skills, techniques, bravery, trust, willingness and confidence.
So next time you think about saying ‘We can’t do that’ then just put a YET at the end of it and put yourself on your horse’s timeline.
- Shelley – HorseSavvy