And then there are times you remember that life is our best teacher; little baby steps produce the biggest lessons. In this case; somebody I know keeps telling me that we don't always need expensive "experts". We can teach ourselves - make discoveries on our own.
Conditioning makes me reject this idea. I automatically want to go find somebody who already knows how to do what I want to learn; or go find an appropriate book or whatever. But maybe NEW conditioning can teach me to accept there are many things I can learn to do myself; and my children can learn on their own. Afterall; did any of us read a book before taking our first step or saying our first word? Did we have to find a mentor to know we wanted mashed potatoes but not the peas; thank you very much.
(That one was for Diane)
Many people may react with a resounding - DUH!! But this really isn't always so obvious. How may of us depend on others to tell us what to do; when to do it and how to do it. Well, on becoming a parent; at some point we have to let go of our children and allow them to learn on their own; to resist the urge to interfere.
On a recent beautiful day at the ranch - life taught me another lesson. The clue was in the cavaletti's; those crude ground poles cut from local pines and placed at uneven intervals in the center of the arena.
The idea was to get the horse to trot over them without hitting them.
My daughter was up on the lanky paint gelding; and her friend Collin was available to help. It so happened I decided to sit ringside and observe. Then along came Brian; then Kathleen. Alice quickly had an audience. We all had an idea how to go about this little exercise. We all wanted to know WHY this exercise was important; and WHAT was the anticipated result?
We adults fought not to instruct. Kathleen ran to get a book on cavaletti exercises thinking we could just give Alice a quick tip on how far apart the cavaletti's should be placed. There was no obvious answer; or maybe she just had to go do something else.
The kids had to figure it out themselves. Somebody suggested a measuring tape. The kids' interest seemed to peak and they changed the distance between the cavaletti's UNTIL - SUCCESS. After several adjustments, with accompanying discussions between the kids about what was wrong, Wally calmly trotted over all four cavaletti's without hitting a one.
To the seasoned equestrian or parent; this may not seem like such an important lesson. It's just one of those small moments in time; when you realize progress has been made; and a few of us were blessed enough to witness the revelation.
So let the children figure it out themselves - and maybe you'll find a lesson in it for yourself.
