My East Coast Adventure

My East Coast Adventure

When I was a consultant for a client’s broodmare program, my boss often said, “Barb, one of the secrets to success is you need to keep showing up.”


He went on to explain that, whether it’s business or personal, investing time in attending events can open doors.

We position ourselves to take advantage of opportunities, observe trends, become more informed, and make new friends.

Magic can happen, and worlds can open up.

Depending on the situation, showing up might feel adventurous or intimidating, but my client was right. Unique experiences happen when we ‘get out there’, and you never know what might happen.

Recently, I had the honor of giving three presentations on horseback and two seminars onstage at the Equine Affaire Expo in West Springfield, Massachusetts.

It was great to see long-time friends (notice I don’t call them old – LOL).

I so enjoyed the folks who rode with me. For the first time, I met some impressive professionals, observed trends, and saw how much the digital world has expanded and impacted us.

I enjoyed visiting a part of the US I don’t often see. It’s beautiful.

It reminded me of my former client’s consistent suggestion to ‘keep showing up.’

It reminded me to say ‘yes’ to opportunities to go, learn, be vulnerable, and see what I see.

I’m amazed by the connections I made and by the potential for more adventures.

Now, I’m passing this simple advice on to you. Keep showing up. If you’re inclined to do something, go for it.

When we venture out and about, it’s refreshing to the mind and spirit, and you never know what’s waiting for you just around the corner.

It could be magical.

Please leave a message for me.

Barb

Unstoppable Momentum

Unstoppable Momentum

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OR DOWNLOAD THE MINI-PODCAST

Transcript:


Hey, it’s Barb,  and I want to talk to you today about an idea that’s really easy to understand, but it’s not always easy to do.

It’s called unstoppable momentum.

I discovered a woman, Marissa Murgatroyd, who does a lot of teaching online.

She has a type of ‘formula’ that makes a lot of sense to me.

It’s the idea of creating unstoppable momentum.

The part of the path she proposes has the same ideas I’ve experienced and taught, but I really like the way she combined them.

The idea is that we get very specific about what it is that we want – which is a vision.

Then, we set ourselves up for constant wins. (This is a major piece of the puzzle that is easy to brush off or overlook.)

Thirdly, we sustain motivation over time by acknowledging within ourselves, bigger and bigger wins, into what she calls, unstoppable momentum.

There are three steps.

The first step is that you imagine your future self becoming who you intend to become every step of the way of your learning.

Your future self is doing what you imagine, not just analytically, but feeling it.

You see in your mind whatever step you’re working on, and you add it to the vision of a becoming a beautiful rider.

This first step uses this idea of your future self in a very creative way.

The second step is celebrating the things you do well.

Now, again, this is something that I’ve talked about a lot  and it’s easy to think, “Yeah, yeah, yeah, Barb, okay, I did that pretty good, but did you see what I messed up over there?” 😊

This is a powerful tool because, besides the fact that we get more of what we recognize and appreciate, we get excited every time we allow ourselves to acknowledge each little thing we do well as a win.

You get into the habit of thinking about small wins and being delighted by each little step. This builds confidence.

Here’s the third step.
 
As you develop these first two steps you start to get a feeling of certainty that nothing is ever going to get in your way, as you keep growing and learning because you are focused on and celebrating getting better and better.

You experience an uninterrupted  flow of experience – wins – corrections – experience – wins – corrections.

You don’t revert back to, “I don’t know if I can do this.” You don’t sweep over the whole thing as in “That was horrible. That was great.”

That’s because you have the vision of yourself as a beautiful rider in whatever it is that you do – and you actively see how it’s happening.

You visualize what you’re about to do.  You take the wins and you celebrate them.

You have unstoppable momentum.

So that’s what I have for you today.

It’s a little different version of a lot of the things that we’ve talked about in the past, but I really love the way she put it together.

Have a great week. And as always, you know, I love to hear from you.

Sustaining Motivation

Sustaining Motivation

Our journeys of riding and showing our horses have hills and valleys of success and empowerment – and then we don’t feel so strong!

At times, we feel discouraged. Maybe something happens to our horse – all kinds of things can happen.

In his research, Daniel Coyle discovered the idea of sustaining motivation. 

It means discovering and practicing ways to stay encouraged and motivated during the ups and downs. 

He says a mix of passion, perseverance, and self-discipline keeps us moving forward.

This ability to encourage ourselves makes all the difference in growing and enjoying our time with horses.

We’re not born with this instinct. It’s developed.

That’s a critical point. It’s the ability to lift ourselves by our bootstraps during hard times and find a way in, around, or through challenges.

It’s also a skill that separates people.

When you think about the people you admire the most, aren’t they the ones who keep going and overcome incredible challenges?

I want to share some tools and mindsets with you about sustaining motivation.

Could you revise the ‘why’ you ride? This is critical to your joy. Your reasons keep you juiced (: so to speak because they’re so personal – and not dependent upon results. 
 

Another mindset is consistent gratitude.

You would agree that we are lucky and blessed to ride these beautiful horses. We’re fortunate to have the means and the ability to do what we do. 

It’s pure joy – the people, the adventures, and the support we get from others and can return to our friends. 

This next idea is from Coyle’s The Little Book of Talent – think like a gardener and work like a carpenter. 

That idea makes so much sense to me because I love plants. It’s a stretch to say I’m a gardener. LOL

But I feel good when I watch over them and spend time with them. It’s relaxing and soulful for me.

The idea is that with gardening, you’re always getting the big picture:

How does the landscape look?

How are individual plants doing?

What must I do next to fill in or expand the garden?

Working like a carpenter is more specific, as it means being extraordinarily methodical and measuring your work. Carpenters put in a lot of hours to do the meticulous little things.

Sustaining motivation is about the big picture and then working on our next steps to keep building our skills. We make a plan and then work strategically and intently on it. We’re invested!

Next, our spirit needs nourishment. We know we need to eat food to nourish our body and hydrate. 

The same goes for our souls. Wherever you draw inspiration from – lap it up. 

Make time for it.

It may be your faith. 

Perhaps it’s from the stories of people who overcame great challenges in their discipline or life. 

Other sources are podcasts, books, or daily inspirations.

Wherever you get your inspiration, make it a part of what you do consistently – it matters.

Then there’s Angela Duckworth’s Grit Test online. It’s fun to take and can help us see the components of grit – where we’re strong and where we can choose which resilience parameters to improve.

I believe in you and wish you joy and belief in yourself.

Keep loving, learning, growing, and having a blast with your beautiful horse.

_________

MINDSETS FOR SUSTAINING MOTIVATION:

  • Keep coming home to your heart – your passion, why, and values to so appreciate the extraordinary opportunity to ride a horse,
  • Gratitude for all involved in your horse world.
  • Think like a gardener – work like a carpenter.
  • Make time for inspiration.
  • Take Angela Duckworth’s Grit test online to drill down to more specific information about you and grit:https://mcnairscholars.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/12-item-Grit-Scale-Angela-Duckworth.pdf.
  • Keep learning, growing, and having fun.

How to Read Cattle

How to Read Cattle

I often hear how hard it is to get practice in both reading and working live cattle. 

I understand. 

This video describes some fun ‘games’ you can do to boost your cow reading expertise. 

Have fun! 

Fixing Your Horse’s Natural Asymmetry (Part 1)

Fixing Your Horse’s Natural Asymmetry (Part 1)

Overcome your horse’s natural asymmetry so you can—finally!—ride perfect circles and straight lines.

Does your horse seem to have a “good” and a “bad” side? Is he somehow easier to ride in one direction than the other? Is it hard for you to make your circles to the left match your circles to the right—or for any of your circles to be perfectly round? This is similar to our being right or left handed. Here. We’re looking to help him become ambidextrous.


The effect you’re noticing is caused by his natural asymmetry. In other words, one side of his body is not exactly like the other, and so doesn’t move and respond in exactly the same way (just like ours). That means he’s stiff and resistant to bending in one direction (his stiff side), while he tends to bend too much in the other (his “hollow” side).


As if this asymmetry weren’t enough to deal with, “magnets” also pull your horse out of alignment when you’re trying to ride precisely. Magnets are things (such as the barn or a pasture full of buddies) that attract your horse’s attention, causing his body to bulge or drift that way.


The Enemies of ‘Going Straight’


Getting and keeping your horse straight—whether he’s on a straight line or not—is a fundamental goal of riding. This concept can seem confusing, so let’s consider some definitions.


Straight: Your horse travels with his hind feet in the tracks of his front, with his neck and spine aligned to allow this. This means he’ll be straight on a straight line and curved on a curving line, or circle. (Trouble is, his asymmetry and the pull of magnets make it challenging for you to keep him that way.)


Hollow: Your horse bends or softens excessively in one direction. About 80% of horses tend to be hollow when traveling to their right. When you lope your horse to his hollow side, it will feel as if he’s bending much more than the arc of the circle requires. That’s because his natural asymmetry is causing his hindquarters to drift to the inside of the circle to avoid carrying weight, which in turn causes his neck, shoulders, and ribcage to drift to the outside of the circle.


Stiff: Your horse resists bending or softening in one direction. Horses tend to be stiff when traveling to their left. When you lope your horse to his stiff side, he resists bending on the arc of the circle. His nose won’t be properly tipped to the inside, nor will he have a soft bend from poll to dock.


He’ll feel as if he’s always collapsing/cutting in on his circles when going this direction. You’ll usually feel more comfortable loping on this lead (to his stiff side), as he’s tracking straighter and will usually stop better, but that doesn’t make it his better side. It’s as challenging to supple the stiff side as it is to straighten the hollow side.


Magnet: Anything that attracts your horse’s attention and therefore draws him to it. A horse’s body goes where he looks, and he looks where his mind is. Predictably, this is the gate, the barn, the trailer, where his buddies are, and so on. Magnets are what make straight lines (such as rundowns in a reining pattern) and symmetric circles problematic.
To compensate for these magnets and to deal with and overcome your horse’s asymmetry, you must learn to…


Ride a Perfect Circle


This sounds easy, especially at a walk, but it isn’t! Once you master perfect circles in both directions, though, you’ll have evened out your horse’s asymmetry and achieved control over his entire body—essential for any competitive event, as well as for safe, pleasurable trail riding. You’ll also have learned how to overcome the effects of your horse’s favorite magnets.


Before you begin this exercise, turn your horse out and/or work him from the ground to get the “fresh” out and dial his attention in to you. Outfit him in a plain snaffle bit (for clear, comfortable communication) and his usual saddle. Work in an enclosed area with good footing. If possible, work on freshly groomed ground so you can easily see your horse’s tracks, and/or enlist a friend to help you gauge the symmetry of your circles.


The goal. A perfect circle is precisely round as opposed to oval, oblong, cigar or egg-shaped. As your horse travels this circle, he should stay soft in your hand and flexed slightly to the inside through his neck and body. He should walk in an even, four-beat rhythm, at a steady pace—no deviations in speed. His hind feet should follow in the tracks of his front. He should be equally soft and responsive in either direction.


KEY SKILL: Teach your horse to move laterally, off your leg. Let’s review that before we move on. Be sure you can move him out onto a bigger circle by pulling your outside rein way out while keeping his nose tipped to the inside and keeping his body on the arc of that circle. He’ll have to bend and move laterally off your leg (this is no easy feat so practice it at all the gaits before moving on). I’ll cover more of the “how too’s” in my next article.