I have described the goal of teaching a horse to let go of an idea and then teaching it to accept a new idea as being fundamental to achieving “oneness”.
In my view, we should compete only when we feel we have had a good day because we spent it with our horse, even if we came last. I suspect competition has ruined more horses and more human/horse relationships than most of us want to admit.
I want to begin the year with a tribute. It’s a tribute to my wife, my partner, my colleague, my best friend. Her name is Michèle Jedlicka and we have been married for 20 years.
Every horse is a horse. They are not showjumpers or carriage horses or plough horses or gaited horses. Every horse is a horse and that should be good enough.
A horse’s mind needs to become the other half of an alive and active conversation. When training, there is no point in lunging a horse if their feet and body are doing the work but their minds are on vacation.
