I am not a trainer. Yet, I start my Horses because I believe that based on our relationship, they will trust that what I am asking is a safe thing to do. Most of us are not trainers, yet we do possess the capacity to teach our Horses many things. In truth we must first be taught something before we can train to become proficient at it. Teaching introduces the concept and the information necessary to understand and implement, training increases proficiency. Far too many times I have seen Humans punish a Horse for not being accomplished when they were never educated in what was expected.
Chant is a great teacher for me. She firmly sees herself as an equal, she has opinions, and she is open to learning. She is committed to maintaining individuality and choice. And she wants to learn. She teaches me to consider her perspective, she reminds me that our language is different, and we need to find common ground when either of us are uncertain. She constantly reminds me that if I want her to trust me, I need to trust her. Touché.
I need safety, she needs stability. I need commitment, she needs space to process. We both need to understand trust. Because we are relationship based, she endorses the idea of teaching rather than training because it releases us from the responsibility of the definition of progress and invites the flow of co-intelligence and co-creation. And because I am not an educated trainer, I am more in alignment with these things.
As a teacher I must constantly increase my education, I must metamorphosize into a muse and inspire her to reach for movement and mindset that is foreign to an uneducated Horse.
I must not seek for ways to be ‘right’ or to change her but seek for ways expand her hunger to learn. Then the learning becomes her idea, and I become the source to lead us into the next realm of possibility.
For those of us that experience our Horse as part of our Spiritual journey, there are many ways that they lead us into expanded perspectives. Not only in riding or groundwork, but in Soulful evolution. By considering the Soul of the Horse we have a summons to explore new aspects of teaching that lead to unexplored methods of training. When we embrace the Whole of the Horse we become better teachers and trainers.