Good Days, Bad Days

As the old song goes, "Mama says there'll be days like this..."

Yesterday, Wednesday, Morgunn had a really good day. He was listening to Betty and the two of them were flowing through the exercises as one unit.

Sugar, however, seemed to have forgotten all she had learned, seemed stiff legged and wouldn't respond well to almost all of my cues.

Today, it was Sugar and I who were flowing well together while Betty and Morgunn were more disjointed.

Learnings? Most of the problems are in us, our minds and our bodies. However, it's a good reminder that, like us, horses have good days and bad days. They and we are not motorcycles where you can turn the on switch and expect the exact same performance each time. They and we are living beings with feelings, emotions, aches and pains.

What we're also learning is when our horse is having a bad day, it's a good opportunity for us to work on how we're thinking - stay calm and don't get frustrated - to work on giving consistent cues and don't worry how the horse is or is not responding, and to focus on how we're sitting in the saddle, how we're using our hands, how we're breathing (or not), etc.

So, when "there are days like this" it's still a good opportunity to learn and grow. Thank you, Mama for your wisdom.