The last six months have been hard. More than once, a small group of people have told me, “You’re not doing enough with Winston. Winston needs more respect and more discipline.”
Is he perfect? No, he can be sassy. He’s just a year old. I also know he’s not nearly as bold as horses his age can be.
Are there holes in the training I’ve done? Absolutely. I’m not a professional and it’s my first time raising a young horse. But he loads onto a horse trailer, handled his first horse show well, and is mostly agreeable when asked to do something new.
One reason I hear, “You’re not doing enough,” is that I’m not following the exact same training protocol they are.
This isn’t exclusive to horse training. We’ve all had a person in our professional lives, hobbies, or even our families who thinks “enough” is only when it is exactly the same way they would do it.
The beauty of horse training (or anything in life) is that there are many ways to achieve our goals. Some methods may be more efficient, and others may lead to greater results.
One thing that I appreciate about hearing diverse outside perspectives is that it can expose us to ideas we hadn’t considered, and that can get us further than we could on our own. Others’ input is the challenge or the push we need to achieve and exceed our goals.
When I started my writing business, I had one specific goal. My business has grown exponentially in ways I never imagined in the last four years because I surrounded myself with others who were more experienced or who were trying different tactics and being open to listening to and trying what they had to say.
The downside is that when I encounter persistent chatter that what I’m doing “isn’t enough,” it gets stuck in my head, and I struggle to let it go. Even if what they are saying can be helpful, the delivery makes it hard to embrace it.
So, I’ve been focusing on creating my own board of directors — one for each facet of life. They are mentors, friends and experts in their field who are sounding boards, sources of inspiration, trusted sources for constructive criticism and technical expertise.
In my business, it’s two mastermind groups that meet regularly. We allow one another to vent frustration, provide a gut check and challenge each other to try new strategies.
With Winston, it’s a network of respected horse trainers I’ve interviewed for stories and good friends locally who have decades of experience with young horses.
Sometimes, we get stuck inside our heads and need outside criticism to improve ourselves, our businesses, or the skill we’re trying to learn.
Having a strategy to filter through the chatter to find the nuggets that resonate, discard those that don’t work for us and tune out the unconstructive feedback can lead us to even greater outcomes than we expected.
For me, it’s having trusted advisors to lean on. How do you filter through advice to find a path that works best for you?
Katie
Lazy Summer Days
When Winston was a few months old I’d spend a few minutes each day sitting on the ground with his head in my lap while he napped. I miss those days!
He still enjoys and his and every now and then I catch him snoozing. He never turns down a massage or a scratch.
He also loves his treats and we frequently receive bags of treats from his fan club. I limit treats in quantity — so he doesn’t beg — and in type —to apples, carrots or manufactured treats.
As a kid, our horses enjoyed pears off the tree in their pasture, got sweet corn on the cob and enjoyed slurping the juice out of watermelon rinds. It never occurred to me to give them other fruits.
So, imagine my surprise when I was asked to write this story, Can Horses Eat Bananas?
What you won’t find in this article is a tidbit from a conversation I had with another veterinarian who dedicates his time to supporting working equids in third world countries. Bananas and banana peels are a staple in those working horses diets. Who knew?!