This is a copy of something I wrote back in 2006. The principles remain the same today …

The road we travel is paved with our good intentions. Then, we hit a pothole. Where did it come from? Potholes arise from changing temperatures. Thaw to freeze to thaw to freeze. Inconsistency. After repeated stressors the road begins to tear. Then, the tear magnifies into that pothole that can become gargantuan in no time at all. The good intentions that paved the road are shredded into nothing but gravel and sand. A million grains of sand. We’re stuck in the pothole and sinking fast. …

OK. Now you’re wondering why the heck I’m writing about potholes on a Natural Horsemanship site, right?

Think of the analogies I’ve just laid out. The road is paved with good intentions. We all have good intentions, right? Especially when it comes to our horses. We want that blue ribbon. We want that ethereal, magical connection with our 1200 pound animal with flying mane and tail. … with hooves pounding out a rhythmical song on the earth while we float and melt into the body beneath us. Whoa! Wait a minute. There’s a pothole up ahead! Our song on the earth just turned to sour notes – a disharmony that raises the hairs on the back of our necks. Our good intentions just went south into the pothole. Maybe all the way down to China! Now what the heck am I talking about? Hang on … and read on.

Horses are animals of prey that depend on their senses to survive. One of the strongest senses is the ability to read the frequencies around them. The air is filled with frequencies; with energy that moves wildly about in the wind. One hundred feet of gut inside the horse senses and reads every cell of energy that surrounds them. It receives the frequencies and translates them into that which the horse can understand perfectly. This is their survival system. Once they receive these frequencies, they register it all in their primal cortex; in their amygdala where the flight or fight messaging system begins. The messaging system is so efficient that it flash starts messages to the rest of the body in less than a split second. Flee? Fight? Relax, everything’s cool? In a split second the horse knows.

Our intentions and thoughts cause our cells to vibrate with frequencies. Frequencies that, yup, you guessed it … that the horse senses and can understand. Frequencies that let the horse know whether we’re friend or foe. Frequencies that illuminate our INTENT! So now, we begin to pave the road. Every second we’re with a horse we’re paving that road of good intentions. Are they always good? Hopefully. What happens, though, when our intentions are intermingled with frustrations and angers and hurts from the day? Can the horse separate the good from the not-so-good? If we allow him to do so. If we allow ourselves to separate them. If not, the horse senses interminglings that cause incongruencies which, in turn, cause confusions to the horse. The natural horse’s world is a world of order and predictability. Horses naturally are very uncomfortable with things that are new or out of place or changed. In light of that, our own confusing incongruencies causes apprehension in the horse who is receiving our frequencies. What happens next is a spiral downward. The more the horse senses confusion the more fearful it becomes. The more fearful it becomes, the more it begins to move its feet and body around. Horses are designed to MOVE when they’re feeling threatened.

So now, we’re feeling confused and hurt that the horse is not listening; the horse is getting more and more confused by the second and moving its feet while we’re trying to keep him still and now you see … the beginnings of a humungous pothole. A pothole that threatens to swallow us whole. So, what can we do about this?

Take a deep breath, center ourselves and purposely LET GO!!! No, I don’t mean let go of the horse although we do want to allow him to move his feet. I mean let go of our emotions. Let the frustrations, angers, hurts and other negative frequencies go to the wind and center ourselves on being one grounded with the horse, through the horse, into the universe. Realize that the horse is just a horse and can only sense what he receives from the environment and that we’re part of that environment. Get ahold of our INTENT for the moment and direct that intention to the horse. Is our intent to walk forward then LOOK forward, FEEL forward and THINK forward. That gives the horse direction. Is our intent for the horse to stop moving? Then, stop. Just simply stop and do … nothing. No, I didn’t say don’t do anything. I said, do nothing. Purposely doing nothing is an act of intent. “Not doing anything” is just that … we’re not doing anything. No intent, no feel, no direction. If we want the horse to canter, EXPECT that the horse is going to canter when you ask him to! Intend and direct the horse to canter. Think, feel and LOOK FORWARD in the canter. Your horse will know exactly what you want with no incongruencies.

Wishy-washiness is confusing, non-intentional and non-directive. Change your wishy-washiness to intent, direction and non-confusing messaging to your horse. Center yourself, breath, focus, and ground yourself into the horse.

Now … pave the road with good INTENTIONS and fill in those potholes. Your horse will be able to respond much better when he’s not having to worry about falling all the way down to China.