What's gone before - Part 2

In a past post I delighted in my newfound knowledge that what has gone before need not dictate the present. This can be such a blessing! Today was a reminder however that this rule unfortunately applies to good things, as well as bad things…..

My last Freeschooling session with Amber was our best ever! I knew that didn’t necessarily mean that today we would be building on that, but having had two good sessions on the trot I was optimistic and planned to use the session to refine our communication. My goal was to repeat the exercises from the week before but with more precision.

From the moment we started I got the feeling that Amber wasn’t as ‘up for it’ as she had been last week. Pip has explained to me in the past that horses are like us in that they have good days and bad days, days where they feel energised and days when they don’t. So I happily assumed that Amber was having an off day and upped my energy to encourage her to do my bidding.

There were moments where it all went to plan and many more where it didn’t and I couldn’t quite understand why. Having reached a point where I knew I wasn’t going to figure it out by myself I took a break and Pip talked me through the various elements I could adjust to see what was causing the problem. I started again and sure enough Amber happily circled off the line straight away. Having learned the hard way in the past I decided to finish on a good note and called it a day.

This was a great lesson in being present in the moment and not relying on what has gone before. Just because something worked yesterday doesn’t mean it will today. Regarding the reasons behind that? Thankfully I had videoed my lesson, that was an altogether different lesson in how the horse is NEVER wrong!