Episode 4: In episode 3, I talked about the three stages that riders go through in their horsemanship journey. I also discussed a little bit about responsibility. In today's part 2, I'm diving a little deeper into how I think responsibility and accountability fit into the three stages.

Show Notes

[01:04] I send out a weekly email and get a lot of feedback. I received some helpful feedback when it comes to explaining responsibility.

[01:21] The dreaming phase is when people enter owning horses and they just expect it to work. I called this my Disney phase.

[01:40] The learning phase is nuts and bolts. It's how things work.

[01:57] The balance face is when you can hold on to both ideas the dreaming and the learning. And move back and forth between the two.

[02:07] There is some resistance to responsibility in people who are unaware that they are afraid to give up the dreaming phase.

[02:21] Feedback from people who are afraid of being mean to their horses.

[03:39] You can have both phases at the same time.

[04:45] In the dreaming phase, the responsibility is always with the horse. People think things are magically going to work.

[05:07] When we move into the learning phase, the responsibility shifts over completely to the rider. The rider feels like they are 100% responsible for whatever happens.

[05:30] In the dreaming phase the horses have no accountability. They have us hoping, but if it doesn't work it just doesn't work.

[05:46] In the learning phase, we are responsible, but we're not sure what that means as far as holding the horse accountable.

[06:41] Natural push back from a horse makes people reluctant to set a boundary. People worry if their horse will still like them.

[07:10] Think about whether it's possible even in human relationships to have great accountability breed more trust.

[07:33] I know of a high school teacher who sets very high standards for their students. This teacher ended up being the most respected person there.

[07:48] Somewhere in the mix of responsibility and accountability, we breed this storm of respect.

[08:00] When you are working with your horse you are each 100% responsible.

[08:25] You will have to work out the consequences inside your relationship.

[08:58] Stand outside the pasture and watch and see how your horse reacts and what emotions they are going through.

[09:23] Horses that challenge lines are telling you something about who they are when you go to work with them.

[09:32] Stop and think about how you are interpreting the things that I am saying when I talk about the dreaming stage, the learning stage, and the balancing stage or when I bring up words like responsibility and accountability and respect. How do these words fit in with what you are experiencing with your horse?