Team work.

© Lisa Sultana

By Lara Beth Poynton

As we all know, the human condition is complex - as emotional beings - we’re our own worst enemy. Often we get caught up on the notion of: “he should of known this by now” and “he’s just doing this to…”

Logically, we know the truth is:

• He doesn’t know by now or he would have done it.
• He is actually doing this to get release

It's that simple!

To be the leader your horse needs we must use emotion in a positive way - emotionally and physically

I’m good at detaching my emotions from my approach to training. I can easily stay in a neutral space where I know to breath into my power abdomen and to feel grounded in my body language and movement. However, the Brumby Challenge this time around has not been easy. I’ve created additional pressures for myself with daily social media updates and acknowledge that the timeline of 150 days to transform Cooper from Wide to Wonderful just adds to my expectations.

Cooper gives 1-percent each and every day.

© Lisa Sultana

My awareness of reacting to pressure has given me cause to stop and thing about my emotional response to our progress. I must remember to leave these thoughts at hime and not carry them into my training sessions. On more than one occasion, I have been aware of shallow breathing or clenching my jaw as my emotional state sends mixed body-language messages to my horse.

The only way for me to deal with these feelings is to quickly recognise the actions in myself and let go of any unrealistic expectations, such as thoughts of “he should know this by now”. The cool thing about cooper is that he’s so attuned to body language and often has already responded to my emotional body language before it even becomes a conscious thought in my mind.

The lesson here is to stay present and reward with release when Cooper gives me 1-percent. I liken Cooper’s progress each day to a mathematical concept: that is, to reward him even time he improves 1-percent, then we can achieve exponential growth. I use 1-percent as a market because it’s achievable for Cooper, it stops me getting greedy, and I can be confident it will fast-track results in our lead up to EQUITANA


For further updates go to: Brumbydiaries/Lara Beth
 

2018 Naming Rights Partner, McDowells Herbal Australian Brumby Challenge
EQUITANA Melbourne, 15 to 18 November

 

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