Let’s Stop Looking for Ourselves When We Look at Our Horse
“We don’t see the world as it is, but rather as we are.“
Mary Pipher
It’s spring, my favorite time of year! Horses are shedding, foals are being born, and horse people are planning the fun we’ll have with our horses this year. While we mark our calendars and get our horses healthy and fit for trail riding, showing, or breeding it’s a great time to think about a new approach to take when spending time with our horses.
As the above quote by Mary Pipher suggests, it’s difficult to experience anything in this world without putting our own point of view on it.
Personal history is powerful. We react to the world by what we’ve faced in our past and what’s going on in our present. Humans are burdened by goals and dreams, something horses don’t bother with. They live in the moment and don’t spend their time dreaming about winning barrel races, dressage tests, or completing 100-mile endurance races.
There’s an idea going around the horse world about how horses function as a “mirror” to their humans. While I do think horses can reflect our qualities (both good and bad) and seeing the truth of ourselves can be beneficial therapy for us, focusing on our own reflection may be a disservice to the horse. Let’s love horses for their unique and beautiful selves and stop turning them into people.
Can we purely experience who the horse is? Can we stand back and observe, honestly, the motivations behind their behavior and not take it personally? Can we empathize with what they feel and “step into their shoes” to help them? Once we do this we might be surprised at how much happier and more cooperative they become.
Every day, every ride is a new day with a horse. Let’s work towards listening to our horse’s needs today, not who they were yesterday or who we want them to be tomorrow.
Enjoy our March/April issue with its focus on spring health. If you have any suggestions for our magazine’s content please contact me at kim@nwhorsesource.com. We’re here to serve the Colorado horse community and would appreciate hearing from you!
See this article in the March/April 2023 online edition:
March/April 2023
Kim Roe grew up riding on the family ranch and competed in Western rail classes, trail horse, reining, working cow, and hunter/jumper. She trained her first horse for money at 12 years old, starting a pony for a neighbor.
Kim has been a professional dressage instructor in Washington state for over 30 years, training hundreds of horses and students through the levels. In recent years Kim has become involved in Working Equitation and is a small ‘r’ Working Equitation judge with WE United.
Kim is the editor of the Northwest Horse Source Magazine, and also a writer, photographer, and poet. She owns and manages Blue Gate Farm in Deming, Washington where she continues to be passionate about helping horses and riders in many disciplines.