Friday, October 7, 2011

Answers to Horse Training

Jaz and me at Sterling Farms, San Diego 2011
(photo by Heather Marsh)
There was a question that I did want an answer for and I think I found it.  Going back to my life before India, the pain around the treatment of animals and specifically training horses has driven me to this deep soul searching.  I took a little break from looking at the topic while adjusting to life in India and the intense spiritual process.   Of course, the work with Help In Suffering brought up some aspects, but not so specifically the horse training. Now that I am back working with horses (even on a limited basis) the topic is right at my feet.  I start to put on my old hat and I don't like it.

There are training decisions in the evolution of my horse training methods that I am not proud of. Fortunately, those episodes did teach me something and helped me evolve into a more humane trainer.  And there are times that my emotions got the best of me and I didn't treat the human part of the partnership the most ideal either. Rather than being frustrated with the industry, I can see that I need to be the pebble dropping into the pond and begin there.  If the ripple influences something in a useful way than great, but start with the purity of my own pebble--and maybe that is enough. I can see how people are going to ultimately change in their own timing.  The world has a lot of discourse and I don't need to be adding to it if I can be my own catalyst for change.

While putting the two worlds together (horse and spiritual), I can really feel how much I don't want to struggle, use force, or be adversarial with either the horse or the owner/trainer of the horse.  I have a choice.  The clarity around better understanding myself, human nature, and the evolution of consciousness all help with that choice.  Another download from sitting at the feet of the Guru.  The time in stillness has let me get to a deeper part of how I can take action with a completely different perspective.  I still may not go back to training horses full time, but I like how I am coming to terms with that chapter of my life through the challenges I face in India.

Reading today's news that three women won the Nobel Piece Prize--my hat is off to them for their perseverance, strength, ambition, will, and vision.  I would love to know how they draw their internal lines around inner peace while carrying the gauntlet for such huge humanitarian efforts.



WORLD
Three Women Win Nobel Peace Prize

2 comments:

Mary said...

After watching how horses react to certain owners, trainers, and to time between visits from these people (good/bad-long time/short); I believe horses cherish and remember the people they have a special relationship with. A horse's life can go from great to a trajedy and vise versa. That said, I hope you continue to train horses, and especially people (for the horses). Good relationships between humans and animals; and the resulting contentedness of both is a heavenly thing.

Susan said...

What kind and encouraging words. Thank you. It is interesting as I sit with all of this. Recently, I have gotten some emails out of the blue thanking me for something I did to help with a horse or for carrying the humane way for training torch, but I am still living in the pain of moments where my actions were not at a standard I would repeat. Animals are remarkably forgiving with correction when you are coming from a deep place of compassion, but the pain is mine. Maybe as I am surrounding by animals in varying stages of neglect and need, they are helping to heal me. I offer them all a moment of compassion and gratitude for their presence and patience.