Joy (in Horsemanship

By Elisha Bradburn

Last month my article was on Love, and how it applies to horsemanship. This month I am writing about joy, and how it’s a surprising ingredient in horsemanship as well.

Iwould like to start by making the distinction between happiness and joy. Happiness is dictated by circumstance… an example being, I won the lottery, so I am happy! Joy, however, is not dictated by circumstance, we get to choose it. Joy can permeate our interactions with horses, and when it does, the odds of an enjoyable and successful time with horses (and people) will go up exponentially.

I got started thinking about joy’s effect when I first heard horseman Jonathan Field talk about the importance of intention in our communication with horses. Intention is not a quality we give a lot of thought to. It isn’t as obtuse as words or coarse gestures, but to a subtle communicator/ prey animal like the horse, intention is as palpable as anything. Intention is being focused, present, clear about what you want, and confident that you possess the skills to bring it to reality. Intention is doing less and getting more. Intention gives you conviction as you go about things, and conviction is like faith, dang near impossible to get in the way of. Van Hargis, a horseman I learned from down in Texas, had a good way of describing a state of being when approaching a horse or human with an idea. He described it as our spirit and intent. That is a high level of thoughtfulness, and it sure makes good sense, to be aware of our spirit and intent as we approach our horse with an idea. So how does joy tie into intention?

A joyful intention is the part of relationship with horses that we can bring to the table, and are able to control. We can’t control the wind that day spooking the horse, the horse’s mood, or his past experiences, but we can control the spirit and intent we bring to the interaction. This will influence at least 50% of the way things go that day. Just by the simple law of osmosis, if our joyful spirit and intention is stronger than the horse’s skepticism, fear, or whatever he brings to the table, then joy will win out. This is because no matter what the horse presents to us, we are looking to help him understand, like we would a good friend. We are giving the horse the benefit of the doubt, knowing he is only doing what he thinks we want, or what he thinks he has to do to escape or survive the situation.

A tool you can use to stay joyful when you may feel tempted to get frustrated, is to smile. When you smile, the mere physical act turns into a feeling inside you. Either that, or you giggle that you are crazy enough to be sitting on your horse smiling to yourself! It is just a good way to get started with a better feeling to carry forward, so we can be better for our horses. I also find having a curious viewpoint helps me stay empathetic towards my horse. I ask myself what I did that caused my horse to do what he did, rather than seeking to blame him for my inability to clearly communicate. The horse’s reaction is simply them being a mirror. If our horse is repeatedly exploding, underperforming, fleeing our presence or whatever issue is taking place, we are only hurting ourselves and our horses to not change something. It would be the definition of insanity, to do the same things, and expect a different result. Instead, we can keep our joy, get curious, and figure out how to set things up differently for ourselves and our horse next time. When I am in a situation that I can’t figure out at that moment, I will move onto something different, or go back to something we both know well, or get some help from a trusted source. Quite often, when you take a break, rather than grinding on something, things just fall into place and you do get it figured. All this to say, when things go a bit sideways with my horse and I decide to keep my joy, I avoid getting frustrated and emotional. This makes life way easier and more pleasant for both my horse, myself and everyone else around us. Afterall, most of us have a horse to have more fun!

I would encourage you to really think about the spirit and intention of the way you go about things. Always keep in mind, we get to choose joy, it doesn’t depend on circumstance. When you bring joy to a relationship it is pretty contagious, and joy is one thing we want to be spreading! It makes for pretty sweet times with horses and humans alike.

Elisha Bradburn and her husband Clay own Faithful Farm, an equestrian center in the Fraser Valley. Elisha’s passion with horses lies in psychology based horsemanship, with a strong consideration for the horse’s point of view. Elisha is available for speaking engagements and can be followed on her Legacy Horsemanship pages on both Facebook and Instagram or e-mailed at legacyhorsemanship@ shaw.ca.

(See her listing in our Business Services section under TRAINERS)