The very first place to begin when working with an animal is in your own mind. Take a good peek inside and look your ego straight in the eye. Your ego is a good thermometer of your relationships with others; horses included. In fact, horses in particular as horses are wonderful, wonderful mirrors of our selves. When thinking about working with a horse, most importantly, when working a horse "naturally", one needs to seriously take a good look inside himself and do a cleaning.
Our egos are the core of ourselves. It is the reality of our consciousness ... what validates ourselves as thinking, feeling, caring humans. In nature, there is a balance to everything. Our very earth is placed with such precision that one millimeter off and life would not be able to exist. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the frequencies unseen are all balanced and as we are aware, any unbalances wreak havoc. The same applies to our egos and personalities. When working with horses, our imbalances will be greatly exposed. An over inflated ego will shine like a polished doorhandle in a dusty room.
GOOD horsemanship, is built on a foundation of FEELING combined with knowledge and wisdom. Any one of the three, left by themselves, is like a butterfly without wings -- Can't go anywhere; cannot take on "normal" tasks and when trying to fly, won't ever get off the ground except for a few inches. Can really do no more than squiggle around on the ground for awhile. Knowledge without wisdom is a dangerous, dangerous thing. Feeling without knowledge is a weak foundation, to say the least. And, wisdom simply does not exist without the other two. We all are given feelings; we all have the opportunities to increase our knowledge; we all have the inner workings to receive wisdom but, one must be open and ready to accept the gift of wisdom. Once the ego starts rearing its head, its shadow blocks the light of wisdom. The ego can be unforgiving and solidly wrapped in an unapproachable shield.
It's a long journey, sometimes, to equalize the givens and the choosings, but with open eyes and open heart it is certainly possible and actually, a never ending quest.
