So after right my last blog post about Ruffian's and my playtime I got to thinking about what is a good play time? How do we define it?
I didn't really come up with any definite answers but I think that it has a lot to do with perspective. It depends on what you are expecting to get out of a session. If what you want is to get results in the way of tasks being accomplished and things happening then if things go wrong, that most likely wouldn't be a good session right? I am not saying that you shouldn't do tasks and such, because I think that they are very important and if you don't then it will be very easy to get boring. But remember... it is all about the relationship!
If you are looking for improvement mentally, emotionally and physically, if you are looking for better communication, if you are looking for never ending self improvement, then no matter what the play session looks like you will always be able to learn something... and if you are looking at it from the right perspective, it will be a good play time.
My playtime with Ruffian the other day didn't go the best if I looked at it from the point of view that the tasks went wrong but if I look at it from the point of view of "What can a learn from what happened?" "Was it something that I was doing that caused Ruffian to want to get away?". So after I thought about it I figured out that it was a good playtime because it is going to, and has, tested me to become a better partner for my horse.
So I guess the main point for this blog post is just when ever you are thinking about your recent play session, a task that you and your horse just did, anything... think about it from the perspective of it being a learning experience. And also maybe think about how you will look back on it in a year to come... I bet you wouldn't think about it in the same way as you do today. Because you will know what you have learned from it.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and learn a lot... and it might just come in a way you least expect it :)
Naturally,
~Keri
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Challenging advice.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think it is hard to visualize the "slightest" try and be happy with the "new little" try he gives. I can see in my mind what the end result of the task done well looks like. But sometimes for me to recognize the little steps towards the end is hard. Thus I miss feeling "successful" when he gives "the little" to me on our journey to the final goal.
Also knowing when to quit after getting the little successes is hard. When I finally recognize the "try" then I want him to try more. I am learning. "Expect a lot, accept a little and reward often."