When I was at the doctor’s office last week, they measure grip strength and overall muscle in my body. I have 68lbs of muscle which is way above average for my age. That was surprising to me. I don’t understand why average is so low. my grip strength in my right hand was 88lbs and in my left hand (missing finger) it was 66lbs. Again, way above average and I feel my grip strength is weaker now than it’s ever been.

I hate running. I am, however, on week 332 of running, walking, or hiking 3-5 days a week. I generally get in 12 miles of running a week.

Recipe for training a horse:

Practice Pause

Don’t drill your horse. Three to five minutes, three to five reps. Take a break, change the exercise. The horse doesn’t have to get it “right” before you quit or move on. Learning comes with mistakes and they don’t have to stay at school until they have it perfect. We would not do that to a child who is learning. Drilling rarely creates anything but stress and anxiety. Stick to your 3-5 and walk away.

I apologize for my absence and appreciate everyone’s patience. If you are distracted, don’t expect your horse to be focused. If you can tell me what is happening outside the arena, you aren’t focusing on the task in the arena. If you can’t keep your focus in the arena, don’t be upset when your horse can’t either. Your horse needs a mentor. If you are constantly looking for boogeymen then your horse will expect to find them. If you stay focused and confident; your horse will f

For almost 15 months I’ve been dreading this day. In my head I imagined all the things that could go wrong. I’ve told myself I couldn’t do it and probably shouldn’t. I wasted a lot of energy over 15 months being anxious.

Loading foals. These aren’t the best video but they were in our security camera.

Your horse protects their engine. Their hind end is what gives the flight and they also use it to fight. A horse yielding it’s hindquarters to you is entrusting you with their safety. They are giving up control of something vital to their survival.

If it feels like you have to start over every time your horse gets a break because of life, there is a problem. Either the training wasn’t good or the horse is painful.

There is a fine line between pushing too far and not pushing far enough. If we push too hard we can shut our horse down, create anxiety about what we are trying to accomplish, and drive our horse away from us. If we stop too soon, we can teach the horse that when they get stressed we stop which never helps them learn to deal with pressure. How can we find that line?

Literally…..

Just for fun, try sitting still for 3 minutes and focus on one object. Do not let your mind wander, only think about the one object you are looking at. Can you last three minutes? Next, sit at your computer and type a letter to your spouse about your last vacation. While typing start thinking about your last ride on your horse. Could you continue the letter when you let your mind wander? Now, try sitting at your computer practice tying your shoes but have someone giving

If you have conditioned your horse and created a good foundation for where you are going, new things should not be a fight. If you are fighting with your horse over new skills, stop. Evaluate. Are you expecting too much too soon? Did you skip a step? Are you expecting your horse to complete a task they are not fit enough to do? Are you being clear? Are you pushing too hard?

Riding is hard. If it were easy, everyone would be experts. Getting on the back of a large flight animal takes some bravery. Sometimes we have to be braver than we want to be. Horses can only respond to the information they are receiving. That includes our emotions. Sometimes we have to be more persistent than we want to be. Horses will challenge us when they feel confused, insecure or our request is hard. There will be days when we have to push past and through the r

Our attitude has a pretty big outcome on a session with our horse. Monday wasn’t good for most of my horses. Tuesday it stormed, so I opted not to work them because I didn’t want the storms to create a repeat of Monday.

Yesterday was a tough day. The horses had a week off due to my anniversary and lesson schedule. I moved some horses and cows around to utilize our grass better. I had one of 4 horses act like they had a brain.

How often should I ride?

Fear can paralyze us. We are afraid to make a mistake, so we don’t try something new. We are afraid to look like a beginner, so we don’t try something new. We are afraid of the amount of work a new skill will take for us to master, so we don’t try something new. We are afraid to have people watch us, so we don’t try something new. We are afraid to mess up our horse, so we don’t try something new.

Go slow but hurry. We heard this multiple times at the Brent Graef clinic. It seems like a contradictory statement. It is actually wise advice.