What life lesson can a horse teach us?
Have I tipped my hand there may be some “softer skills” subject matter here because I said important life lesson in the title?
Trust me for a moment and don’t let yourself think I’ve gone all hippy flowerchild on you.
But you’ve got to stick with me, even if I use a couple of semi-woo-woo phrases like being present and in the moment? You’ve probably heard them a lot lately. But don’t worry, they won’t show up until later.
(You can launch your ejection seat to safety at any time you should feel the need.)
First let me share how I arrived at this week’s post
My friend Pat has a riding school in Ontario called Harrogate Hills Riding School, and she has a vlog called “Is My Horse Happy?” You can find her videos on YouTube videos under the same name, which are really cool.
One of Pat’s videos was the inspiration for this post. Watching it brought back some nice, though stressful memories of my horseback-riding learning experience.
You see, I was a very ‘reluctant’ horseman when I learned to ride. It’s been about twelve years ago now. Lanette and I made a deal that if I agreed to riding lessons, I could pick our next adventure in learning.
Without thinking, my inner cowboy agreed
On our first day, we were matched up with the horses. “Jeff, you’ll be riding Lonergan.” He sounded cool enough. Little did I know…
“So Lonergan’s a special horse. You’ll notice he’s missing an eye. Don’t worry a thing about it. He’ll take good care of you.”
Well, that horse screwed with me every time until one day and I wasn’t even sure what happened… something was different.
Whatever Lonergan may have been before he lost that eye, I do not know…
But he was a grand looking guy with a hint of a wise, if not ornery old soul. And all those times I was convinced he was screwing with me? I now think he was nudging me… for whatever he was once, he was now a teaching horse.
Of course, he could sense my stiffness, my stress, my tension.
I was untrusting… I’ll admit it, because of his eye.
And my head was always scattered… because of work, and life, or whatever was occupying my mind at the time. Yet one lesson at a time, while I wasn’t even aware, I slowly became more confident, more aware.
Who knows? I may have even relaxed a bit
Lonergan slowly, carefully, persistently lulled me into being present with him. I had found my way ‘into the moment’ with him. A moment where my head wasn’t somewhere else worrying about things that didn’t really matter then and there, if at all.
And my reluctant horse buddy Lonergan felt it.
The choppy trotting, the slowing down then speeding up, the wandering left or right, the over correcting… all faded away.
If you had asked me at the time, I would have said we finally understood each other. Now I realize he likely understood me from the git-go.
Whichever of us was truly responsible isn’t important. The thing is this—once there was an understanding, a mutual respect… developed one nudge, one nuance at a time… I was the beneficiary.
We were cool with each other
Riding with Lonergan was all happy trails after that.
I guess working with horses all my life I never realized this was a thing…I suppose because horses pretty much demand that you stay ‘present’ all the time.”—Pat Gillis, Horsewhisperer
You do you, and I’ll do me. I’ll do my horse thing while you do whatever you humans do.”—Lonergan
As Pat says, “Animals in general, and horses in particular have no trouble teaching us this lesson.”
Thanks for imparting an important lesson, old buddy.
And thanks for the inspiration, Pat!
Be untucked.
What have you found that can get you back into the present? Be sure to share it with us below.
Check out Pat’s video by clicking here.
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How to Notice What Matters in a World Filled with Noise and Distraction
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Copyright © 2019 Jeff Meister
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