The 6 Secrets to Always Having a Great Ride!

I learned many years ago that the secrets to having the best ride every single time are:

1.?????Set a clear intention and picture your successful outcome even if you have no idea how it will come about. Just imagine it magically happening and act accordingly.

2.?????Set expectations but never attach to them.

3.?????Release attachment to short term outcomes. It’s all about the journey and the connection.

4.?????Stop judging and evaluating your results. Just observe objectively; in other words, be present.

5.?????Focus on being happy and having a good ride.

6.?????Have the confidence and courage to explore new things and keep chipping away towards your goal. Be consistent.

I’ve always been super goal oriented, result and purpose driven. The feeling this creates inside of me is a mixture of excitement, happiness, meaning and fulfillment, but also anxiety, fear, stress and pressure.

I’ve come to realize (and most of the time accept) that you can’t have one without the other. When you go after your dreams and focus on growing them, you automatically grow your resistance at the same time. It would be wonderful if this didn’t happen and you just sailed towards your dreams and goals without any obstacles or resistance, but in most cases that just isn’t how it goes.

As we dare to live bigger, we take up more space, we show up more, become more visible, become more heard and whatever we fear becomes bigger too.

You can’t climb to the heights of a great mountain without realizing that the fall is equally daunting.

It’s scary to grow. It’s not possible to grow by doing the same things, sticking to the same actions, thoughts, beliefs, etc. It all has to change, evolve and transform. When we observe physical growth, it is also painful because you are literally growing out of your previous meat suit. There’s a reason why the expression “growing pains” exists, and it is spiritual and mental too.

There is no growth without pain, but it’s good pain. It has a purpose, not like the type of perpetual pain created by the mind in resistance and reluctance of growth, holding on to thoughts and beliefs that no longer serve you or straight up limit you.

This is where the secrets come in. My experience is that with many riders they get too attached to success or failure. They set high expectations, have no plan and judge themselves, their horses and their results harshly after each ride, thus creating a pressure filled environment and a cycle of disappointment that is hard to break free of.

I like to make things easy. After all, I believe in the Philosophy of Lightness and lightness means Ease. Let’s have a deeper look at each secret.

1.?????Set an intention and act accordingly: It’s not actually magic. It’s mindset. It’s the ability to have a clear idea of what you would like to achieve during your training session (if possible) so that you have clarity and focus and spend your time purposefully working on something that is important to you and important to the improvement of your horse. Pick what’s important, then figure out the easiest path to accomplishing it. If that turns out to be too difficult, then make the goal itself easier by just imagining succeeding at part of the end goal. As an example, if you’re working on lead changes, part of that could be improving your haunches in exercise. Make reaching your goal during the session as easy as possible by breaking it down into doable steps so you always feel like you succeeded at the end of your session.

2.?????Set expectations and then detach. This one is tricky. Not attaching to your expectations has a lot to do with not judging your results and not being stubborn about your plan to get there. If you don’t judge your results, then you can observe them with an open mind and possibly discover new solutions that get you closer to the result you want. Detaching from expectations doesn’t mean that you deviate from your goal. It just means that you aren’t stuck on how it must come about or when it must come about, etc. You simply trust that your efforts will pay off and you keep opening new doors until you find the way.

3.?????To release attachment to short-term outcomes. Goals aren’t always meant to be achieved. Sometimes what we think we want and need is not actually what we want and need. For example, if you plan on training your horse to Piaffe and all he wants to do is Passage, then why not change your focus and follow the path of least resistance, at least for now. Work the Passage instead as that is what is being offered as easy and it might turn out to be the natural path to the Piaffe as well. If you’re attached to working the Piaffe, you might feel disappointed in your results, disappointed in yourself or your horse, and miss out on the experience of the Passage. At the end of the day, just spending time with your horse is a “win” in itself. So, it’s about the long-term results and the connection and relationship, not the short-term goals.

4.?????Stop judging and evaluating. When you judge and evaluate you make it personal. You make it about your abilities or the horse’s. You make it about success and failure, an either/or situation where nobody ever wins. There is no such thing as success without failure or failure without success. Nobody has 100% one or the other all the time. That’s why life is not about either. Life is about the essence, which IS living or life itself. Being, experiencing, expressing and discovering with curiosity what is possible for you long-term. All your successes and failures mean nothing at the end of the day unless you attach to them. What meaning you choose to derive from your experiences is what counts because it shapes who you are. No “past, present or future” defines you or your horse. You are both forever evolving.

5.?????The best way to make all these things happen is to simply practice being happy and content before all else. Happiness means not to have your focus stuck in the past or in the future, but to be in the present. Being present means you let go of judgement and negativity. Being happy means doing things that make you happy in a way that makes you happy. It means following your bliss/intuition. Not taking actions that aren’t guided from within. Being happy with your horse means to appreciate him/her for what they already are, even as you work on growing into something new. Nothing is deemed “wrong or not good enough as it is right now”, it simply is as it is and that’s already awesome!

6.?????Have confidence and courage. Any goal or process can get tiresome if you don’t believe you have what it takes to make the necessary step to change it for the better. Sometimes it feels like a goal is blocked from all angles. I can guarantee you that there is always a solution. The best plan when feeling stuck is to stay consistent and keep chipping away, even if you have limited resources and feel like you’re not getting anywhere. At least you got to where you are right now and it’s important to stay consistent so that you don’t lose that progress. Just because the next step isn’t showing itself doesn’t mean that you should stop doing what has gotten you to the previous step. Stay consistent and keep maintaining so that when that quantum leap is ready, you are ready too! Sometimes, you just need to decide that you do have the confidence to make that leap towards change, even if all your ducks are not in a row.

What got you to here, won’t get you there. ~ Marshall Goldsmith

Be willing and have the confidence to change and grow whilst practicing being happy with everything you are right now. Be kind and compassionate to you and your horse in the now and don’t make up stories that support limiting beliefs. Reframe every negative thought you have with a positive one and you’ll always have a great ride!

Ride with Lightness

Celie

?For more awesome information about Celie, upcoming clinics and educational events, visit our website by?CLICKING HERE