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| 3 year old Drake is his stall, not quite sure about my camera. |
The second day that I, or anyone else for that matter, ever worked with Drake, I was all alone with him. In the back of my mind I was terrified that something tragic would happen leading him between his stall and the arena. As I placed the halter on Drake, his anxiety was palpable and it took everything for me not to take on that same feeling. I took a deep breath, stood up tall, and tried to be as confident as I could. I spoke softly to him and told him and myself everything would be all right. We made it without incident, but it was nerve wracking for both of us. Until I came along all of Drake's interactions with humans had been to move (scare) him from one place to another. He was wary of people and distrusting, but he was also intelligent and curious. We began to work things out. With time I came to understand that Drake is a bit of a "scaredy cat." Being a prey animal, his instincts are to flee from a scary situation, but usually he doesn't go too far. And eventually curiosity will win out and he will come back to investigate. The more that I remain confident and calm, the easier it is for him to stay calm and confident himself.
As I drove away from the barn after a successful second session with Drake I was exhilarated, but the weight of what I was attempting to do hit me like a ton of bricks and I could feel myself begin to panic. The evil voice in my head told me I had no business working with a green horse, that I had no idea what I was doing and the possibility of getting hurt or hurting the horse was entirely likely. But before these thoughts could over power me completely and turn my excitement and euphoria into doom and gloom another thought broke in and said, "Today was a success. You don't have to know everything. Just start with what you know, do that, and build from there." And that is what I did. Admitting to myself that I didn't know it all and that I didn't have to was incredibly humbling, yet it freed me to be open to learning and listening to Drake. That kind of confidence isn't arrogant or prideful, but open and creative and usually gets the best results in any situation.
If you would like to read my previous post about Drake, please click here.
***Disclaimer***
I'm not suggesting that someone with no experience with horses go out and train a horse, there is a significant amount of knowledge required in horsemanship and working with an experienced trainer and taking lessons is the best course of action and is the one that I took myself. I was being supervised by a trainer, but was also practicing what I was learning on my own with Drake.
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