The Practice of Being Positive | RES 073

Ride Every Stride | Horsemanship and Personal Growth with Van Hargis

It’s easy to get wrapped up in negative thinking, even if it doesn’t seem like that big a deal. We might complain about the weather, it being too hot or too cold. We might say, “Well my mare is in heat right now and you know how that goes.” We find it so easy to fall into negative thinking, and I think a lot of it has to do with the media we take in. There’s always bad news in the paper and people arguing online, over the radio, and on T.V. Being positive is a practice, one where you take a negative and see the bright side of it. When we do that we’re able to visualize a better road forward for ourselves and our horses.

Key Takeaways

Positivity is ultimately a conscious choice we have to make. It may come easier to some than others, but all of us have to work at it in order to find the positive in every situation. Not just in life, but directly with our horses as well.

When our horses do something we don’t want, like buck or turn the wrong way or won’t load on the trailer—it’s easy to get wrapped up in the negative side of the situation. But if you take a moment and step back, you can see that both you and the horse are learning. Learning what triggers the horse to buck, and the horse is on its way to learning that bucking is a waste of energy—it will be easier in the long run for them not to.

Another key is that our thoughts control our actions. I like to do an exercise at my clinics where I give all the riders a task, and then bring in a large cone to the arena without saying anything. Riders will start gravitating towards it without knowing why. Even after I tell them to leave the cone alone riders will still drift to it—it’s occupying so much of their mind that their body is telling the horse to wander that way. Use your thoughts to focus on the positive, and your body and actions will follow.

Committing to better thoughts can be difficult. We can’t forget about all the bad things that have happened to us, but we can choose to acknowledge that we’ve grown from them and move forward. We can choose to learn how to cope and be happy. And if you can’t find a way to think positive all the time, learn to not think negatively. Let other things occupy your mind and learn to accept that things are perfect for now—that everything in this particular stride is okay, and just a step on a journey to something better.

Also, if you’re a fan of the show please take time to head over and leave us an Itunes Review to give Laura and myself a glimpse of how we’ve helped you or what we could do better to help you ride every stride.